Vol. VIII 



igoQ 



J Campbell, The Flame-breasled Robin. 127 



plentifully in Cape Otway and on the Buffalo Mountains in 

 summer, it is somewhat surprising to find no reference whatever 

 to the species in the reports of the Field Naturalists' Club 

 excursions to these two places during Christmas of 1904 and of 

 1903 respectively,* though P. kggii is stated to be numerous. 

 The same club visited the Grampians in November, 1891, and in 

 the list published -f- of birds observed is Petnvca phcenicea. No 

 reference, however, is made to it in the body of the report, 

 which is very remarkable, seeing that this record, if correct, is 

 one of the first notifications of the species being upon the 

 mainland during summer. From three seasons' personal 

 acquaintance with the Grampians, I very much doubt the record, 

 and consider it " not proven." 



Regarding the presence of Flame-breasted Robins in Tas- 

 mania during winter, when they should (in theory) be on the 

 mainland, the evidence is conclusive. In answer to an inquiry 

 of mine, Mr. A. R. Reed, of Hobart, in July, 1904, shot and for- 

 warded to me a full-plumaged male bird, with the information 

 that the species was just as plentiful in the vicinity of Hobart 

 then as in summer. Subsequently, in The Einu,\ Col. Legge 

 states he has seen these Robins in Tasmania in the months of 

 May, June, and August. Miss Fletcher writes§ : — " Robins left 

 our district near the end of April, and it was not till 31st July 

 that I noticed them again." Mr. H. Thompson's note in The 

 EiHH, vol. v., p. 32, also answers the question : — " Several Flame- 

 breasted Robins were observed feeding at a manure heap in the 

 Corporation Yard, Launceston, on 21st April, and as late as 15th 

 June, 1904. These birds were very tame." 



The evidence, in print, in favour of the migration of Petnvca 

 phivnicca between Tasmania and the mainland is very scanty. 

 It does not take long to review it. Mr. J. Burton, on the 

 schooner Gratitude, when five or six miles off the land, between 

 Wilson Promontory and Cape Schanck, 21st April, 1896, noticed 

 several (about six) Flame-breasted Robins flying, some of which 

 alighted on the rigging of the vessel," || These birds, if they had 

 not been driven to sea from South Gippsland by heavy weather, 

 may have been making their way from Wilson Promontory or 

 some other headland across the bight towards the open country in 

 the vicinity of Port Phillip. They were only a few miles offshore. 

 The only other reference I can find is in the " Nature Notes" 

 column of TJie Argus, 26th January, 1906 : — " I have seen them 

 repeatedly when travelling over to Tasmania in the months of 

 September and the beginning of October. They were going to 

 or migrating to Tasmania, and they return in the autumn. I 

 have seen dozens of them in one trip going over, and when no 



* Victorian Naturalist, vol. xxi. , p. 157 ; vol. xx., p. 148. 



+ Victorian Naturalist, vol. viii., p. 193. § The Emu, vol. iii., p. 108. 



X Vol. vii., p. 145. 11 Campbell, "Nests and Eggs," p. 137. 



