PINK-BREASTED ROBIN. 
trees being 300 feet high) ; this Robin was only noticed in this partial clearing. 
The black or almost so of the plumage of the bird’s back was a perfect colour 
protection. On seeing a cock fly to one of the many blackened logs, one 
entirely lost sight of the bird on its settling, and I found the best way was to 
wait, sitting still till the Robin turned its bright pink breast towards one. 
On first settling, the back was always turned towards the intruder. Some 
years later I again met with this Robin near Lome in the Cape Otway Ranges, 
and there the birds frequented the open pools formed at the foot of the water- 
falls. I did not notice them away from these small open places, which were 
surrounded with large forest.” 
Mr. A. G. Campbell has written me : “ Far back in the gullies of the high 
ranges of central Victoria, on the flanks of Baw-Baw and the Alps this species 
is found associated with P. rosea, but it is not by any means as plentiful in 
Victoria as that species. Its domestic economy, however, is very similar. 
I once observed a pair of these Robins feeding a half-grown Gacomantis 
rubricatus in their nest, Upper Yarra, Dec. 1904. This species is migratory, 
being sometimes seen in the suburbs of Melbourne in winter. I have eight 
records within ten miles of the metropolis. A few pairs are to be found in 
the Grampians: this is their farthest west.” 
Mr. C. F. Belcher says : “In the winter the birds, like the Flame Robin, 
move out of the forest to the east and north [from Geelong] ; unlike the Flame 
Robin, however, they never show themselves on the plains or even in lightly 
timbered country, but take up winter quarters in the thickest parts of the dry 
country that they can find. You might easily mistake the hen birds, which are 
plain coloured little birds, for the Scarlet Robins ; but they are much smaller 
and have a characteristic short low rasping twitter.” 
Mr. L. G. Chandler’s notes are : “ This rare bird I have seen at Frankston, 
Olinda and Melton. Two or three birds were observed at the latter place on 
June 8th, 1908. At Frankston they keep to the shelter of the gullies, or the 
thick tea -tree scrubs. It is remarkable that the majority of birds met with 
are females. I think the males must choose the densest portion of the gullies, 
and this would account for their being overlooked. An excellent and almost 
exact imitation of the ordinary note of this species can be obtained by cracking 
a small dry stick in the fingers.” 
A. G. Campbell, reporting on the birds of King Island, wrote : “ Found in 
one or two sheltered nooks along the Pass River, where hazel, boobyalla, and 
blackwood flourish under the kindly shade of a few tall eucalypts. Attention 
is often first attracted to the bird by its sharp note, resembling very much the 
click of the grasshopper. A nest containing three eggs taken in November 
proves it to be a late breeder.” 
107 
