ROBINS 273 



The Lejnon-breasted Fly-catcher. 



MicrcBca flaviventris. 



North Australia and New Guinea. 



Olive-brown above, more or less tinged with yellow; below pale- 

 yellow, the sides scarcely darker; throat white or paler. Length 4.6, 

 wing 2.75 inches. 



According to Gilbert, a very familiar species, inhabiting the 

 trees and bushes around the houses, and little alarmed or dis- 

 turbed at the approach of man. Gilbert describes the song as 

 varying with Robin-like notes in the early morning, and notes 

 like those of the Gerygone (known about Sydney as the Bush 

 Canary) in the evening. "In the middle of the day, when the 

 sun is nearly vertical, it leaves the trees and soars upwards in 

 circles, like the Skylark, until it arrives at so great a height as 

 to be scarcely perceptible; it then descends perpendicularly 

 until it nearly reaches the trees, when it closes its wings and 

 apparently falls upon the branch on which it alights. During 

 the whole of this movement, it pours forth a song some parts of 

 which are very soft and melodious, but quite different from that 

 of the morning or evening. ' ' He adds that the bird is "at times 

 extremely pugnacious. I have seen a pair attack a Crow and 

 beat it until it was obliged to seek safety in flight, all the while 

 calling out most lustily." The nest is composed of fibrous 

 material, covered externally with cobweb, to which are attached 

 flakes of bark. It is situated in the fork of a tree, about 20 feet 

 from the ground and is almost invisible from below. As the nest 

 measures only 1% inches x 11^4 in depth, it is one of the smallest 

 of Australian birds' nests. The single egg is greyish in colour, 

 blotched with chestnut and purple, and measures .76 x .53 inch. 



Genus Petrwca. Robins. 



Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and with species in the 

 New Hebrides, Fiji and Samoa. These sprightly little birds are 

 met with all over Australia, different species occupying different 

 stations, so that everyone has the opportunity of now and again 

 seeing one or other of the Redbreasts. The sexes are very dis- 

 similar, the males marked in black, white, and most of them with 



