THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
towards the tips and a spot of smoke-white at the base of the secondary- quills ; 
tail similar ; a spot of silky-white at the base of the fore-head ; breast, abdomen, 
and sides of the body rose colour ; under tail-coverts whitish ; auxiliaries and 
under wing-coverts blackish ; under-surface of flight-quills whitish at the base ; 
the remainder blackish like the lower aspect of tail. Eyes and feet and bill black. 
Total length 110 mm. ; culmen 9, wing 66, tail 52, tarsus 18. Figured. Collected 
in Gippsland, Victoria, on the 16th of July, 1886. 
Adult female. Crown of head, sides of face, hind-neck, entire back, upper wing-coverts, 
and upper tail-coverts dark rust-brown ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and 
flight-quills dark brown, the last marked with white at the base on the inner webs 
and with ferruginous markings on the outer webs ; tail also dark brown, becoming 
paler on the outermost feathers ; the lores and fore-head have the feathers whitish 
at the base ; throat, breast and sides of body greyish-brown, the last tinged with 
ferruginous buff ; abdomen white ; under tail-coverts, axillaries and under 
wing-coverts ferruginous buff ; under-surface of flight-quills white at the base ; 
the remainder pale hair-brown like the lower aspect of tail. About the same size 
as the male. Figured. Collected at Melton, Victoria, on the 8th of June, 1908. 
Nest. Cup-shaped. Composed of soft green moss held together by spiders’ web and lined 
with fur and soft stuff from tree-ferns. Dimensions outside 2f inches by H deep. 
Inside 1| by Q deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, three or four. Greenish-white spotted more at the larger end with pale 
brown and lavender. 17 to 19 mm. by 14 to 15. 
Breeding-season. October to December or January. 
Mr. Frank Littler has written me : “ The Pink-breasted Robin is a shy 
bird and loves to resort to places where it is not likely to be disturbed. It 
frequents thick forest shades to nest, but is often seen rou d habitations 
searching for insects among the upturned clods in gardens ; sometimes nests 
in the gardens near towns. Food consists of insects of all kinds, procured 
on the ground and on the wing. The song is a series of low, twittered notes, 
which sounds prettily when heard in some gloomy recess in the forest. These 
birds have a curious habit of flitting their wings when at rest just as though 
they were going to fly.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby’s notes read : “ I have found this lovely little bird 
numerous in the gullies on all parts of Mt. Wellington, Hobart, Tasmania, 
also in North-east and North-west Tasmania. In a gorge made by the river 
Don near Latrobe a separate pair were met with almost every hundred yards, 
always close to the stream, which was thickly overhung with timber and under- 
brush. The call-note of the bird is a low penetrating whistle, one note only. 
The birds are so tame that they will come and perch within a few feet of one, 
they seem unable to let a stranger pass by without a close inspection. I first 
met with the mainland subspecies in 1886 near Boolara, in Gippsland, Victoria. 
Quite a number of this little Robin frequented what was called a clearing in 
the big forest, the underscrub had been burnt and the big timber 4 rung ’ for 
an area of five to ten acres, all round was big forest country (many of the 
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