HETEROMYIAS. 



175 



Heteromyias cinereifrons. 



iSHY-FRONTED ROBIN. 

 Poecilodryns ? cinereifrons, Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1875, p. 588. 



Heteromyias cinereifrons, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IV., p. 239 (1879); Gould, Eds. New 

 Guin, Vol. II., pi. 15 (1888); North, Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol. I, p. 37 (1S9U). 



Adult m.\le — General colour above olive-brown, tlte upper parts strongl y ivashed tvitli rufous ; 

 lesser and median tving-coverts ashy-grey, the greater coverts and primary coverts black: basal half 

 of the quills black, crossed with a white band, the apical portion olive-brown on their outer webs, 

 dark brown on their inner webs; tail brown, strongly tvashed with rufous, the three outer feathers 

 narrowly tipped with white on their inner webs: head dark ashy-grey, slightly tinged with olive- 

 brown ; a broad stripe over the eye which extends on to the sides of the nape light grey : lores and 

 chin blackish-grey : ear-coverts olive-brown, blackish at the base : feathers below the eye and the throat 

 ivhite; fore-neck and chest light grey : centre of the breast and abdomen white ; sides of the body and 

 under tail-coverts tawny-buff: hill hlackish-brown, passing into yellowish-brown at the tip: legs 

 and feet flesh colour; iris brown. Total length 6-7o inches, wing 4''f tail JS, bill 0-7, tarsus 1-25. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — North-eastern Oueensland. 



/T^HE range of the present species 

 J- extends from the neighbourhood 

 of Cardwell, where the type was obtained, 

 as far north as the Bloomheld Ri\er 

 District. It is not found in the brushes 

 near the coast, but on the foothills and 

 higher peaks and table-lands of the con- 

 tiguous ranges. Messrs. E. J. Cairn and 

 R. Grant procured a fine series of these 

 birds, also several nests and sets of their 

 eggs, while collecting in North-eastern 

 Queensland in 1888-9. The females are 

 slightly smaller than the males, and the 

 wing-measurement of adult specimens of 

 the latter varies from 4-2 to 4-45 inches. 

 The colours of this species are not so vivid, 

 and are more harmoniously blended one into the other than is represented in Gould's figure 

 in his "Birds of New Guinea." 



:Mr. R. Grant has supplied the following notes:— "In the scrubs of the Herberton 

 table-land, we found the favourite haunt of the Ashy-fronted Robin was a packer's track 

 or other clearing. It seems to delight in flitting from one side of the track to the other m 

 the sunshine, then returning back again to the shade of the surrounding foliage. Frequently 

 it may be observed perched motionless on some low branch, intently scanning the ground. 

 Suddenly it darts down to pick up some stray insect and then returns back again to the 

 same place, this action being accompanied by that strange jerking motion of the tail like 

 that of Eopsaltria australis, and other members of the family. It is seldom seen at any great 

 distance from the ground. The stomachs of those we examined contained insects of various 

 kinds and their larva. Their pretty cup-shaped nests, each containing two eggs, we found 

 built in the lawyer-vines between four and five feet from the ground. 





ft 





ASHY-FRONTED ROBIN. 



