DHYAL BIRD. 489 



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 implies, 

 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 

 traveller, and sometimes will even perch on his head or shoulder. It is a favourite 

 companion of the lonesome woodcutter, enlivening him with its cheerful notes ; 

 and when sitting on a log, he partakes of his humble meal, it hops about his feet 

 like the traditional 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 cpiick 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 worms 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-colour, 

 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 grey, 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 grey ; and the abdomen is white. 



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

 7 a redstarts and robins, but distinguished from all other members of this 

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

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

 Indian region ; the finest songster amongst them being the white-browed warbler 

 (Copsychus albospecularis) of Madagascar, the notes of which rival those of the 

 sweetest European birds. The common dhyal bird (C. saularis) of India, repre- 

 sented in the woodcut, occurs in every part of the empire. It is resident in Ceylon 

 and Southern China, but is replaced by C. mindanensis in the Philippines. The 

 Indian species is a common and familiar bird throughout its range, exhibiting a 

 confiding and friendly disposition like the European redbreast. The cocks are 

 highly pugnacious in the breeding season, and engage in frequent scrimmages with 

 their rivals. The nest is a rough structure, built in a hole of a tree, in an old 



