THE WARBLERS 1663 



Here may be noticed two Australasian genera of birds, placed by some 

 ' among the flycatchers, but regarded by Dr. Sharpe as allied to the 

 stonechat and whinchat. It should be observed, however, that the 

 same ornithologist separates (as Pratincola} the last-named birds from Saxicola to 

 place them among the flycatchers. The New-Zealand robins (Miro) are character- 

 ized by having a slender bill, straight, and furnished with rictal bristles; the wings 

 being moderate and extending to half the length of the tail, and rounded; while the 

 tail is broad and even, the feathers being sharply cut off at their tips. The meta- 

 tarsus is very long and slender. This genus belongs to the avifauna of New Zea- 

 land and the Chatham islands; the species peculiar to the latter group of islands 

 being entirely black. The North-island robin (M. australis} is confined to the 

 gloomy forests of the interior of the North island; and the following description of 

 its habits is given by Sir Walter Buller, who writes that, " as the popular name im- 

 plies, it is naturally a tame bird, and in little-frequented parts of the country it is so 

 fearless and unsuspicious of man that it will approach within a yard of the traveler, 

 and sometimes will even perch on his head or shoulder. It is a favorite companion 

 of the lonesome woodcutter, enlivening him with its cheerful notes, and when sit- 

 ting on a log, he partakes of his humble meal, it hops about his feet like the tra- 

 ditional robin, to pick up the crumbs. Like its namesake in the old country, 

 moreover, it is noisy, active, and cheerful. Its note is generally the first to herald 

 the dawn, while it is the last to be hushed when evening shades bring gloom into 

 the forest. But there is this noticeable difference between the morning and the 

 evening performance: the former consists of a scale of notes, commencing very high 

 and running down to a low key, uttered in quick succession, and with all the energy 

 of a challenge to the rest of the feathered tribe. The evening performance is merely 

 a short, chirping note, quickly repeated, and with rather a melancholy sound; three 

 or four of them will sometimes join in a chirping chorus, and continue it until the 

 shades of advancing twilight have deepened into night. It lives almost entirely on 

 small insects, and the w r orms and grubs that are to be found among decaying leaves 

 and other vegetable matter on the surface of the ground in every part of the woods. 

 Its nature is pugnacious, and in the pairing season the male birds often engage in 

 sharp encounters with each other. ' ' The North-island robin goes to nest in October 

 and November. The nest is generally against the bole of a tree at a moderate 

 height from the ground, built of coarse moss, lined with fern hair and vegetable 

 fibres. The eggs are creamy white in ground color, thickly freckled, and speckled 

 with purple and brown. It is much to be regretted that this charming little bird 

 has recently become comparatively rare, though the robin found in the South island 

 is still fairly abundant. The adult male has the upper parts dull ashy gray, the 

 feathers having whitish shafts; the wings are dark brown, with white bases to the 

 secondaries; the tail feathers are dusky brown, margined with ash; the throat, 

 breast, and sides of the body are hoary gray, and the abdomen is white. 



We come next to a small group of birds closely related to the red- 

 starts and robins, but distinguished from all other members of this 

 subfamily by the black and white tail, equal in length to the wing, and considerably 

 graduated. Peculiar to the Old World, these birds are most abundant in the Indian 



