.VESTS AND EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIKDS. 135 



■^'.W- — Clutch, three to four; roundish in sliape, but more pointed 

 at one end ; tcxtiU'c of sliell fine ; surface sUghtly glossy ; coloui', light 

 greenisli-wliite, much spotted and speckled, especially round the upper 

 quarter, with uniber and dull-grey. Dimensions in inches of a proper 

 clutch : (1) -72 X -58, (2) -72 x -58, (3) -71 x -56. (Plate «.) 



Observations. — This lovely-featliered forest gem is a great favourite 

 with collectors, and is fairly distributed from South Queensland round to 

 South Australia, its place being Uiken in Western Australia by an allied 

 species, P. campbelli (Shai'pe). 



The dress of the Scarlet-breasted Robin is — upper surface, including 

 throat and lieatl, black, excepting conspicuous patch of white on forekeati, 

 and longitudinal white bauds on the wings ; breast and upper part of 

 abdomen scarlet, rest of under surface white. Length, 4^ inches; 

 wing, 1\ inches; tail, 2 inches; bill, § inch. The plumage of the female 

 is brownish, the breast sometimes being tinged with red. 



One never forgets one's enthusiasm over the finding of the first Robin's 

 nest. I well recollect my first find, which happened to be a nest of the 

 Scarlet-brejisted species, that I discovered, with the hen bird sitting, 

 in the forked branch of a " uianua-gum " ( Eucalyptus j, that grew in a 

 secluded part of a bush paddock not far from what is now Murrumbeena, 

 Victoria. 



Mr. A. J. North writes : — " On the partially cleared land in the dense 

 forest of South Gijipslaud (Victoria) I have often found the nest of tliis 

 species by seeing the bird fly into one of the huge, blackened, hollow 

 trunks of eucalyptus, that has been destroyed by fire. The nest is placed 

 about sLx or seven feet from the gi-ound, on a projecting piece of roughened 

 and charred wood ; it is composed of .strips of baik, gi'asses, and mosses, 

 securely held together by cob webs, and lined with hair, fur, feathers, &c., 

 and sometimes with the soft downy fibre of the inner bark of the tree-fern 

 ( D icksoiiia anta rcticaj . ' ' 



The Scarlet Robin's nest, for appearance and situation, is always a 

 picture, but one remarkably so was first brought under my notice by my 

 friend Mr. J. Gabriel. It was in a cleft in a small dead musk-tree 

 (Olearia) stem. A length of about fifteen inches, containing the nest, 

 was sawn off, and made a most beautiful photograph (see illustration). The 

 interesting exhibit was afterwards presented to the Australian Museum, 

 Sydney, where it has been set up with the instructive and ai'tistic " bird 

 groups." 



I have foxmd the egg of the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo (G. hasalis) 

 in the nest of the Scarlet-breasted Robin. 



Gould states this Robin usually rears two or three broods in a year, 

 the period of nidification commencing in August, and ending in February ; 

 but we may infer that the chief breeding months are from October to 

 December. 



