XESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. \^\ 



Of all the beautiful lichcn-bcdcckcd, moss-made nests of Australkui 

 birds, I give the preference for perfection to that of the Rose-breasted Robin. 

 Perhaps I am biassed by the romantic places and situations where the bird 

 usually builds. The first nest I chanced to find, in the end of October, 

 1888 (but I then thought it belonged to its cousin, the Pink-breasted 

 Robin), wiis nearly ready for eggs, and was situated in a mossy fork of a 

 fr:igi'aiit musk-tree in a shady forest nook of the Dandcnongs. After 

 visiting the locality for three successive weeks, I was tempted to bring 

 the nest to Melbourne without the eggs, the birds evidently having 

 deserted their pretty home, perhaps on iiccoiuit of my wanton (to them) 

 inquisitivcncss, which was fortunate for them, for had there been eggs, 



1 intended shooting a bird for identification. A second nest, discovered one 

 Christmas-tide, wa« an equally beautiful one, but larger outwardly, and 

 was placed within reach, on an overhanging branch bearded with bcautifiU 

 moss, of an aromatic-barked sassafras, which grow by a stream in the verj' 

 heart of the forest. Again I was disappointed, for, although the nest was 

 perfectly new and the owners near, there were no eggs. 



When the Government of the day in its wisdom decided to throw open 

 the crown of the Dandenongs for a village settlement — in other words, to 

 barter away a glorious heritage of the people of Melbourne when more 

 suitable loeahties might have been chosen elsewhere — the sacred forest wa^ 

 soon ravished by the woodman's axe, and despoiled by fire, and the " fem- 

 matted streams " polluted. Amid the general destruction it would be 

 little use to say " woodman spare that tree," but my friend, Mr. J. Gabriel, 

 persuaded some of the settlers to spare any of the beautiful Rose Robins' 

 nests they came across. The following arc some of the examples saved, 

 and, through Mr. Gabriel's t hough tfulness, passed on for my observation. 

 Example (a) On a fork of a dogwood, made of green moss with a plentifid 

 supply of cob-web, especially about the base, also decorated with beautiful 

 silvery -grey lichens stuck on as if growing naturally, lined with hair-like 

 material from fern-tree fronds, (h) On a. dead twig of a blackwood, or 

 some other acacia, lined with hair of feras and a few soft seeds, (c) In 

 fork of hazel limb, hned almost exclusively with opossum fur. Average 

 dimensions of the three examples, externally, 2J inches in diameter by 



2 inches high; interior, IJ inches across by 1 inch deep. 



The following are some observations taken from my note book : — 

 " With Mes.srs. Gillespie and Hill, and my son Archie, visited GriflBths' 

 Gully (Dandenongs), 5tli December, 1896. Found Rose Robin building in a 

 musk (this nest was afterwards found rifled, apparently by some other 

 bird). A second nest was foimd, building, in a blanket-tree. (The 

 following week, on the 12th, three eggs were taken therefrom.) 



" Christmas Day. Archie and I visited a gully on the other side of 

 the Range. Found Rose Robin's nest, containing young, about seven feet 

 from the ground in a musk. Another nest observed at the height of 

 about twenty feet from the ground ; also in a musk, overhanging the creek, 

 saw birds feeding their young. Saw another (third nest) evidently 

 building, on a dead stick, caught in a musk. 



" December 30th. Rose-breasted Robin's nest at the top of a tall 

 hazel, containing two large young. Another with young and an addled 



