THE RED-CAPPED ROBIN 171 



CHAPTER 1C. 



THE RED-CAPPED ROBIN. 

 (^Petrceca goodenovii, Vigors and H or s fie Id. ) 



The subject of this chapter is one of the prettiest, as 

 well as one of the rarest of the robins. Its home is 

 mostly in the north-western parts of the State, and in 

 the Swan Hill district it is not uncommon. I have 

 seen it in the company of the pretty White-winged Wren 

 {Malurus leucopterus), when they were hopping abont 

 together, and, on watching them from the shelter of a 

 partly concealed mallee-branch, I saw that they were 

 busily engaged in hunting for insects, at this time 

 mostly small dipterous flies and other winged insects. 

 The Red-capped Robin, as our plate shows, builds a 

 very singular and pretty nest, which, Mr. R. Hall states, 

 takes from twelve to fifteen days to build. The nest is 

 generally built in the fork of a tree, and to the unpractised 

 eye it is not easily found. Lichens are largely employed 

 as the decorative articles of these nests, and, when carefully 

 done, give the nest a very pretty appearance. The 

 figures shown are about half the size of the birds 

 themselves. 



The eggs laid by this bird are two in number, and, 

 according to Mr. Hall and others, three eggs sometimes 

 form the clutch. A naturalist friend, Mr. J. A. Hill, 

 of Kewell, Victoria, writes to Mr. Hall, saying that 

 in his district (Wimmera), these birds have two broods 

 in a season, the first in August and the last in 

 December. Very young birds are flying about in 

 September, and birds are accompanying their parents in 

 April (Swan Hill district). It was in November and 

 December when I saw them, having been in the 

 locality for some time, on locust extermination business. 



