THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 115 



NOTES ON PLUMAGE OF ROBINS. 



By Robert Hall. 



(Read be/ore Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, lith December, 1896.^ 



The regular " red-breasted " robins arrived at Box Hill this 

 year during the third week of April. Of the two species the 

 Flame-breasted (Petrceca Leggii) as a whole were later than the 

 Scarlet-breasted (P. phcenicia). During the early part of August 

 the flocks dispersed altogether, leaving the open grounds, and 

 silently performed their parental duties amongst the timber, as if 

 there were no such birds as robins in the district. These robins 

 come here without notice, and male birds of Petrmca Leggii to 

 the number of twenty were noticed on the 25th June last. I 

 wish to place before you this evening the question of robins and 

 their plumage, in order that our observers, more so than our 

 collectors, may put aside a portion of their time for its con- 

 sideration and this class of work generally. 



Mr. Gould in his " Birds of Australia," vol. iii., literature to 

 plate 7, has given his ultimatum regarding the maturity of the 

 plumage of the Scarlet-breasted Robin (P. phcenicia) — viz., that 

 it is concluded in the first year. The only instance quoted is of 

 a male bird shot during a February in nearly full dress but with 

 signs of youth. To this theory I do not wish to raise any objection, 

 but, to encourage a further research into the matter, I would 

 state that the skin of an unmatured male was received by me on 

 20th August, 1896, from the Heytesbury Forest, which was 

 certainly not a nestling of this year, and had no further signs of 

 development before its next moult the following year. This bird 

 was shot without any idea of its real value, and is very much 

 like the female of the Flame-breasted Robin to an eye un- 

 educated in this particular groove. The following are its 

 principal characteristics : — Forehead, clear white ; the whole 

 length of the dorsal portion, dark-grey, tending to black ; throat, 

 similar to back ; breast, clearly flushed with red. 



As Mr. Gould has quoted his strong opinion upon one bird, 

 and I have ventured to faithfully follow in his footsteps, a 

 question has arisen for somebody's consideration as to how this 

 robin conducts itself throughout a two years' course which it 

 may probably take to complete its suit of feathers. 



With the other species, the Flame-breasted Robin, I have been 

 annually impressed for seasons past by the appearance of the 

 female, which is not smitten with a gorgeous beauty, but with one 

 of exceptionally quiet colour. The "British Museum Catalogue," 

 vol. iv., page 167, describes the young male as "similar to old 

 female, but with an orange instead of vermilion breast." To this 

 I would feel disposed to add an intermediate stage, as nothing is 

 said of when this maturity is reached — viz., the female of the first 



