SCARLET-BREASTED ROBIN. 
subspecies are concerned, I could not separate the West Australian, South 
Australian, Kangaroo Island and Victorian, as I have collected some at Albany 
with a small frontal spot, but I have collected both there and at Perth just as 
many with a large frontal spot : there is a considerable variation in depth and 
tone of colour in a long series from any of the States named, but this is largely 
dependent on age and length of time the bird has been in plumage. My 
Tasmanian skins are all of a decidedly deeper shade of colour, and the bird 
perhaps a little larger. One specimen I collected at Adaminaby, southern 
New South Wales, was more orange in tone. In our Blackwood district these 
birds in spring mostly retire to the higher ranges during the nesting-season, 
and begin to come about the garden the middle of February. During winter 
they are very numerous, as at that season they visit the plains, their scarlet 
breasts being frequently seen in the suburban gardens of Adelaide.” 
Before the South Australian Ornithological Association on June 25th, 
1915, “ a fine series of Robins was shown from the Museum, Mr. Ashby’s and 
Captain White’s collections. The Scarlet-breasted Robins, genus Petroica, 
were found to differ in the East, South, and Western parts of Australia ; the 
bird found in Tasmania resembles the Kangaroo Island form.” 
In my “ Reference List ” I separated P. m. frontalis , differing “ from P. m. 
leggii in its smaller size and larger amount of white on the fore-head.” Type 
Victoria. Range, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. 
When I received Captain White’s birds collected at Kangaroo Island 
I named them “ P. m. samueli. Differs from P. m. leggii in having the breast 
a much deeper scarlet and the head and back much darker.” My attention 
was at once drawn to the fact that I had overlooked A. G. Campbell’s suggestion 
and I rejected my name in favour of his, though such hypothetical nomination 
has been strongly condemned by authoritative workers. When Peale visited 
Sydney he procured specimens, and in his account of the voyage he described 
this bird as Petroica coccinea, but his description was omitted from the common 
revised edition prepared by Cassin. I recently examined the rare edition 
and noted this fact, and therefore used the name subspecifically in my “ List.” 
Since then, however, I have determined Lesson’s Muscicapa boodang as being 
based on this species and also described from Sydney. 
There are then five recognisable subspecies in Australia and Tasmania : 
Petroica multicolor boodang (Lesson). 
South Queensland ; New South Wales. 
Petroica multicolor frontalis Mathews. 
Victoria ; South Australia. 
Petroica multicolor leggii Sharpe. 
Tasmania. 
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