INSES80RES. 277 



Like the true Petroicas, the sexes present considerable 

 differences in their colouring. 



The male has the head, neck, throat, and back sooty black ; 

 a small spot of white in the centre of the forehead ; wings 

 brownish black ; a few of the primaries and secondaries with 

 an oblong spot of reddish brown on the outer web near the 

 base, and another near the tip, forming two small oblique 

 bands when the wing is spread ; breast and abdomen rose- 

 pink, passing into white on the vent and under tail-coverts ; 

 irides and bill black ; feet black, with the soles orange. 



The female has an indication of the white spot on the 

 forehead ; all the upper surface brown ; wings and tail brown, 

 with the markings on the primaries and secondaries larger, 

 and of a more buflfy colour than in the male ; throat brownish 

 buff; chest and abdomen brownish grey ; vent and under 

 tail-coverts buff. 



The young male during the first autumn closely resembles 

 the female ; for the first two months after they have left the 

 nest, they have the centre of each feather striated with buff". 



Sp. 164. ERYTHRODRYAS ROSEA. 



RoSE-BREASTED WoOD-RoBIN. 



Petroica rosea, Gould iu Proc. of Zool. Soc, part vii. p. 142. 

 Erythrodryas rosea, Gould^ ibid, part x. p. 112. 



Erythrodryas rosea, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. ill. pi. 2. 



This pretty little Robin inhabits all the brushes skirting 

 the south-eastern coast of New South Wales. I also ob- 

 served it to be numerous in the cedar brushes of the Liver- 

 pool range. It is a solitary species, more than a pair being 

 rarely seen at one time, is excessively quiet in its movements, 

 and so tame that, in the course of my wanderings through 

 the woods of Illawarra and in the neighbourhood of the Hun- 

 ter, it frequently perched within two or three yards of me. 

 What has been said respecting the habits and manners of the 



