138 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



species has been known for some years past, from examples 

 obtained at Cambewarra, in the Illawarra district of New South 

 Wales, by Mr. J. A. Thorpe, the taxidermist of the Australian 

 Museum. Although the birds were in both instances seen and 

 obtained near the nests, unfortunately neither of them contained 

 eggs. For an opportunity of describing the eggs as well as the 

 nest of this Robin, I am again indebted to Mr. Gabriel, who has 

 kindly sent me the birds, nests, and eggs lately procured by him 

 at Bayswater, Victoria ; also the following notes, under date 

 28th December, 1895 : — 



" My first nest of E. rosea was found in a Blackwood Tree 

 (Acacia vielanoxylon), in November, 1893, and contained three 

 hard set eggs; the second and third nests on 18th December 

 of the same year, both containing fresh eggs ; also a nest in a 

 Hazel Tree ( Pomaderris apetala), with young ; and the fifth 

 nest in a Blanket Tree (Senecio Bedfordi), with three eggs, 

 on 18th November, 1894. About a dozen old nests we found in 

 Hazel, Blanket, Blackwood, and Native Holly trees. The last 

 clutch, the one which I am sending you with nest — oh, what a 

 pretty one ! — you will see is on a Musk Tree (Aster argophylla), 

 and was about twenty feet from the ground. These birds build 

 at a height varying from twelve to sixty feet. The nesting season 

 is November, December, and January, the second nest enclosed, 

 which we found yesterday (27th December, 1895), being an 

 unfinished nest, and pointing to the latter month. My boy 

 Charlie pulled down the nest, much to my chagrin, for it prob- 

 ably meant a full clutch of three, but I do not despair of getting 

 one yet this season, for we found and lost two more hens 

 yesterday, and from their manner of hanging about we considered 

 they had nests. Like the Flycatchers, they are continually on 

 the move, and the note is merely an apology for a noise." 



The nest of E. rosea is a beautiful structure, and closely 

 resembles that of its congener, E. rhodinogasier. The one sent 

 by Mr. Gabriel, which contained two eggs, is built at the junction 

 of a forked horizontal branch of Aster argophylla, from which 

 spring two thin curved branches, protecting the sides of the nest 

 and sheltering it above with their leafy sprays and clusters of 

 flowers. It is cup-shaped and outwardly composed of a green 

 Hypnum held together with a fine network of cobwebs, and 

 ornamented with pieces of apple-green lichen; inside it is warmly 

 lined with opossum fur and the down from the freshly-budded 

 fronds of a tree fern. Exteriorly it measures 2.5 inches in height 

 and breadth, and internally 1.5 inch in diameter by i.i inch in 

 depth. The rim, which is thick and rounded, is ornamented 

 with lichens, and measures 0.6 inch in width. The unfinished 

 nest, which was placed on a thick horizontal branch, is similarly 

 formed, but has no lining of opossum fur. The nests found by 



