124 



Campbell, The Flame-hreasted Robin. [isf^lan. 



Robins are to be found would follow in the main the contour of 

 the coast from Adelaide roUnd to Sydney, not exceeding at its 

 greatest distance from the coast 150 miles. This line is also the 

 contour line of the mountainous country, which accounts for the 

 marked turn inland in north-eastern Victoria. Petnvca pJicenicea, 

 it may be said, is not found on any open country more than 

 about 60 miles out from highlands ranging above 1,500 feet 

 elevation. 



Commonly there is no reference to Robins in the low country 

 of the mainland from October till the end of March. Obviously 

 the birds are away nesting. But where ? The Flame-breasted 

 Robin, there is no doubt, is a very common bird in Tasmania. 

 During the Australasian Ornithologists' Union Congress of 

 November, 1903, the species was seen tending fully-fledged 

 young in the vicinity of Hobart* ; and again, during the sixth 

 Congress (November, 1906), a nest was seen in a crevice of an 

 overhanging crag of Launceston Gorge.-f- 



The islands of Bass Strait, in no part rising more than 950 

 feet above sea-level, are also the breeding-grounds of this Robin. 

 The Field Naturalists' Club expedition to King Island, in 

 November, 1887, procured eggs and skins.:J: The species was 

 not dislodged from the locality by the quick spread of settle- 

 ment, for 15 years later I observed it nesting in dead trees and 

 stumps adjacent to clearings. § On the Kent Group, lying at 

 the western side of Bass Strait, Flame-breasted Robins were 

 reported by the Naturalists' expedition of November, 1896 |] : — 

 " The balance of species, including sea-birds, are common both 

 to Victoria and Tasmania. One only need be mentioned — the 

 pretty Flame-breasted Robin, so common about our gardens in 

 winter time, which was here found plentiful. Right merrily did 

 they cheer our camp, especially at early morn, with antiphonal 

 singing, rapidly answering each other from tree-top or rocky 

 erriinence or grassy bank. We were evidently at suitable 

 breeding-grounds, several nests being observed with eggs or 

 young. It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that these 

 Robins' nests are rarely, if ever, taken on the mainland, but in 

 Tasmania and the intermediate islands." The quota of bird-life, 

 however, on both King Island and the Kent Group, and, in fact, 

 all the islands lying between Victoria and Tasmania when large 

 enough for land-birds, partakes of the Tasmanian character, and 

 not the Victorian (see The Emu, vol. ii., p. 204). This is an 

 illustration of the fact that these islands were once physically 

 united to Tasmania, and are not half-way places or stepping- 

 stones to the mainland, for the birds are in some instances — 

 notably Malurus eltrjabetkce — differentiated from the Tasmanian 



* The Emu, vol. iii., p. i6i. § The Emu, vol. ii., p. 207. 



t The Emu, vol. vi., p. 94. || Victorian Naturalist, vol. vii., p. 132. 



+ Victorian Naturalist, vol. iv., p. 137. 



