66 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



tocrat. Changing the social status of our subject, 

 it is the scarlet Liberty cap that separates the spe- 

 cies from the Scarlet-breasted (white-capped) 

 Robin, the regal little bird in whose fragile notes 

 our humorous poet caught the words: 



"Dear, it's a pity that poor Jenny is so plain!" 

 As with the Scarlet-breasted Robin, the little 

 "Jenny" of the Red-cap is quite plain. Sometimes, 

 indeed, the paternal bird himself will be met with 

 in the same brownish garb; that is to say, he will 

 breed while yet in immature plumage, which pos- 

 sibly takes two years to merge into brilliance. 



Towards the end of the well-remembered Spring 

 of 1914 I was poking about a hillside which ap- 

 peared to be scarcely hospitable enough to entertain 

 any bird-guest, when the appearance of an impor- 

 tant-looking female Robin, and the exercise of 

 patience, led me to the discovery of a nest a neat, 

 protectively-colored little structure, placed in a fork 

 of a slender eucalypt. No male bird was to be seen, 

 but an experimental twitter brought the fightable 

 little fellow dashing up ; his plumage was brownish, 

 with just a "faint fresh flame" showing on the head 

 and breast. Again the familiar rattle drifted airily 

 in, and presently appeared two other male Robins, 

 with breasts of that precise shade of vivid red borne 

 by the scarlet bottle-brush. From the fact that 

 these two beauty-birds were on terms of amity it 

 may be deduced that each was soberly mated ; a 

 month or so earlier the kingly wee creatures, im- 

 pelled by hearts as fiery as their breasts, would 

 have been disputing fiercely, if harmlessly, over one 

 demure "Jenny" Robin. 



