168 MUSCICAPID^. 



The eggs are usually three, sometimes four in number for a sitting, and like those of 

 Petroeca Uggii, from which they are indistinguishable, present the same difference in the colour 

 and character of their markings. The most common type has the ground colour of a pale 

 bluish or greenish-white, which is finely freckled, dotted, or irregularly blotched with purplish- 

 browTi, umber, wood-brown, and dull lilac-grey underlying markings. Some specimens have 

 only a few large distinct slaty-grey blotches, intermingled with almost invisible dots of the 

 same colour; others are distinctly zoned around the centre, or on the larger end, with different 

 shades of brown, or underlying clouded bands or caps of dull lilac -grey. A set of three, 

 taken at Waratah, measures : — Length (A) 073 x o-6i inches; (B) 074 x o-6i inches; (C) 073 

 X 0-6 inches. Another set of three, taken in the same locality, measures: — (.\) 0-67 x 0-54 

 inches; (B) 0-67 x 0-56 inches; (C) o'68 x 0-55 inches. A set of three, taken at Circular Head on 

 the 2ist October, 1 891, measures: — (.\) 076 x o-6 inches; (B) o-8 x 0-58 inches; (0)077x0-6 

 inches. 



September and the four following months, constitute the usual breeding season of this 

 species. 



Petroeca goodenovii. 



RED-CAPPED ROBIN. 



Muscicapa goodenovii, Vig. and Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. •24-5 (1826). 



Petroica goodenovii, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 5 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Au.str., 

 Vol. I., p. 280 (186.5). 



Petrceca goodenovii, Sharpe, Oat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. I\'., p. 171 (1879). 



Adult .male — General colour above dull black; wings brownish black, the inner median and 

 greater wing-coverts and the outer webs of the inner secondaries white: an oblong spot near the 

 centre of the outer webs of the inner primaries, and a bar across the secondaries near tlie base white; 

 tail feathers brownisli-black, narrowly edged at tJie tips tvith white, the outermost feather white 

 margined with broivn on the inner tveb and towards the lip of the outer web, the next feather white 

 on the outer web tvith an indistinct brownish spot near the tip, and the third feather narrowly 

 margined icith white on the outer web; foreliead and the anterior portion of the crown scarlet; sides 

 of the head and throat black ; fore-neck and breast scarlet ; ahdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts 

 white; bill black ; legs and feet blackish-brotvn ; iris dark broivn. Total length in the flesh J^-75 

 incites, wing 2:5, tail IS, bill O'lf, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult fbmalb — General colour above brown; upper wing-coverts broivn, the inner greater 

 coverts tipped with bnff, bases of the seconrlaries pale buff; quills and tail feathers dark broivn, and 

 similarly washed with white as in the male; cap on the forehead dull red ; lores, cheek, and throat 

 dull white; fore-neck and breast pale brown; abdomen and under tail-coverts dull white. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Western Australia, 

 Central .\ustralia. 



WITH the e.xception of the northern portion of the continent, the Red-capped Robin is 

 distributed in favourable situations over most parts of Australia. It is usually met 

 with singly or in pairs, and evinces a decided preference for the scrubby inland portions of the 

 States. It is freely distributed throughout the western half of New South Wales, but is rarely 

 met with in the open forest lands of the coastal districts. At Wellington and Dubbo I found 

 it plentifully dispersed throughout the lightly-timbered pine scrubs, and it was equally numerous 

 in the myall scrubs between Narribri and Moree, in the north-western portions of the State, 

 and it is found in similar country throughout South-western Queensland. Near Melbourne, I 

 once observed an adult male in the scrub on the beach near Brighton, and saw another the 



