THE FLAME-BREASTED ROBIN. 167 



CHAPTER XCVIII. 



THE FLAME-BREASTED ROBIN. 

 (Pctrteca Phoenicia, Gould.) 



This beautiful little Robin is one of our most valuable 

 native insect-destroying birds, and which, at one time, 

 was fairly common in the parks and gardens around 

 Melbourne. Of late, however, it has become compara- 

 tively rare near the city, modern civilization being 

 partly responsible for the ' ' wiping out ' ' of many of our 

 natural beauty spots, and, with them, the final departure 

 of many of our best and most beautiful birds. The 

 extreme tameness of these birds (Robins) renders their 

 being easily killed by those who are always ready to kill 

 any living thing in the bird line, whether it be useful 

 or otherwise a class, unfortunately, all too common in 

 our midst. As instancing how little fear of man they 

 possess, I may mention that quite recently, while a 

 cricket match was being played in one of our northern 

 siiburbs, a Robin alighted on the hat of one of the 

 players, who was standing still, and remained there for 

 several seconds until the fieldsman commenced to move. 



The Flame-breast is well known to most of us, 

 alighting on a rail or twig, and darting off again like a 

 flash of scarlet color, only to alight again as quickly as 

 it had left. 



The male, according to Gould, has the crown of the 

 head and all the upper surface sooty-grey, except a 

 small white spot across the forehead ; a patch of the 

 same color on the shoulders and the anterior edges of 

 the tertials ; primaries and tail feathers, greyish-black, 

 except the outer feathers of the latter, which are nearly 



