The nest i> composed grass and strips of bark, lined with feathers or fur. It is 

 placed sometimes in .1 hole in the trunk of a tree, and sometimes in ;i fork of a branch, but always 

 at a considerable height from the ground. The eggs, either three or four in number, are of a 

 greyish-white oolour, spotted with light brown, and, to a slight extent, with bluish-grey. Their 

 average length is aboul five-eighths of an inch, and their breadth half an inch. 



The male has the upper sin-face, throat, and tail, black ; wings, black ; the wing-coverts and 

 secondaries broadly margined with greyish-white, forming a conspicuous stripe along the wings ; also a 

 broad stripe of the same colour across the primaries; crown of the head, breast, and abdomen, scarlet, 

 passing into white on the venl and under tail-coverts; irides and bill, dark brown; legs and 

 feet, black. 



Habitats: Xew South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. 



PETROKA PIKENICEA (Gould). 



FLAME-BREASTED ROBIN. 



IN Victoria and Tasmania this beautiful bird is very common, and is also found, but to a much less 

 extent, in New South Wales and South Australia. 



It is very tame in disposition, and prefers the vicinity of habitations to the forests which 

 are frequented by the other members of the genus. When seated on a stump or small tree, 

 it may be approached very closely before taking flight. 



During the breeding-season a nest is built of narrow strips of bark and various grasses, the 

 whole being matted together with cobwebs and lined with feathers and sometimes opossum fur. Three 

 ■ s are laid, greenish-white in colour, and spotted and blotched with dark and light brown. They 

 arc nine lines long and seven lines broad. 



The male has the crown of the head, upper surface, wings and tail, brownish-grey, the wing- 

 feathers edged with white; forehead, white; chin, grey; under surface, scarlet; under tail-coverts, 

 white ; irides, dark brown ; bill, legs, and feet, black. 



The female has the upper surface, wings, and tail, brown ; under surface, reddish-grey. 



Habitats : Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, and South Australia. 



