Vol. X . 



igio 



J Dove, The Dusky Robin {Petroeca vittafa). 120 



the flat, spreading part of a bush, on which a good foundation can 

 l)e laid. The nest is seldom more than 4 or 5 feet from the 

 ground, sometimes less ; but my friend, Mr. H. C. Thompson, dis- 

 covered one, near Launceston, at the unusual height of 10 feet. 

 Concerning it I append an extract from my note-book : — " This 

 plain-coloured Robin usually selects a niche in a hollow gum-tree, 

 or a site amid the broken roots projecting from the butt of a pros- 

 trate giant ; but it had in this instance chosen the horizontal 

 limb of a dogwood {Pomaderris apetala), about 10 feet from the earth, 

 and had placed the structure amid thick foliage, so as to be prac- 

 tically invisible. Mounting on my friend's shoulders, I was enabled 

 to make a close inspection, and found the principal material to be, 

 as so frequently happens, fine rootlets. The rim was of twigs 

 bound with cobwebs, while the lining was of grass, rootlets, and 

 fine bark." Another nest was placed on top of a peppermint 

 {Eucalyptus amy^dalina) stump, at 4 feet from the ground, and 

 was partly concealed by shoots which had sprung from the side of 

 the stump. Still another instance was found on 17th November, 

 in Launceston district, where the Robin had built in a V-shaped 

 niche caused by a slab of bark falling partly away from the trunk 

 of a large peppermint. The nest was of fine grass and bits of bark, 

 with cobwebby patches on the outside to assist concealment. There 

 were two blind, naked young, one just out of the q^^, the other 

 still struggling to free its head from half the egg-shell, which was 

 closely adhering — an endeavour in which we assisted. The other 

 shell had been removed by the parent bird. 



This Petroeca has the curious habit of sometimes returning to 

 the same site and rebuilding on the old nest. Instances of this 

 are mentioned in CampbeU's " Nests and Eggs." Mr. E. D. Atkin- 

 son found no fewer than five, and in another case six, nests piled 

 one on top of another ! Mr. Thompson told me, some years ago, 

 that he found a Dusky Robin at Russell's Plains, in Northern 

 Tasmania, using the same nest for a second brood during the 

 season. This is very unusual, as a new nest is generally constructed 

 for this purpose. During the spring of 1909, near Devonport, I 

 found that a " Dusky " had built its nest on the flat part of a " native 

 currant " bush {Coprosma microphylla), at 4 feet from the ground, 

 and sheltered by young gum-trees. The bird had constructed a 

 small circular platform of twigs on the bush, which is a dense, 

 fine-leaved thing, and had placed on this the nest of coarse rootlets 

 and bark fragments. The rim was woven of much finer rootlets, 

 dry grass stems, and wool, and the lining was exceedingly fine 

 rootlets, with a little wool. The contents when found on nth 

 September were one e^^ and two recently hatched young, about 

 a day old. The nestlings were kept under pretty constant observa- 

 tion. They had their eyes open on 17th September, and were 

 covered with brownish feathers, each of which had a central white 

 streak, giving the young a peculiar striped appearance ; reddish- 

 brown bands also showed across the wings. The young flew early 

 on the morning of 24th September, 14 days after hatching. 



