WHITE-BROWED ROBIN. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. Gup-shaped, composed of twigs and grass, matted with cobweb and lined with 
fibre. Dimensions outside 3| inches by 1| deep. Inside, 2 inches by 1 or 1J. 
Eggs. Clutch, two. Ground-colour pale greenish, spotted and blotched, with purplish- 
brown or chestnut and underlying lavender. 18-21 mm. by 14-15. 
Breeding-season. October to January. 
Gilbert, when he discovered this species, wrote in his Journal : “ May 14th. In 
a ramble with my gun I shot a new bird, the actions of which assimilate to 
those of the Petroicce and the Eopsaltrice ; like the former it carries its tail 
very erect, but is more retiring in its habits than those birds ; on the other 
hand, its notes resemble those of the latter. It inhabits the dense jungle-like 
vegetation growing beneath the shade of the fig trees on the banks of the 
Burdekin.” 
Macgillivray, at Cape York, noted : “ Only one bird seen and secured for 
identification. It proved to be an immature female, and was obtained at the 
Jardine River. A sprightly little bird. When on a limb, erects its tail and 
droops its wings after the manner of the Eantails. Feeds on small beetles 
and other insects.” 
At the Claudie River he observed : “Was found usually at the edge of 
the scrub, where the vegetation was thinned out, or else in small isolated, 
scrubby patches in open country. We found the first nest at the edge of a 
patch of scrub below our camp ; it was placed at about three feet from the ground 
on some dead hanging vines, and was a very frail cup-shaped structure, composed 
of aerial rootlets and fibres, and contained two eggs. A deserted nest not 
far from this was eight feet up in a small shrub, and was made of fine fibres and 
decorated on the outside with occasional patches of lichen. Several old nests 
were found in patches of tea-tree in open heathy and lightly timbered country 
near the sandal wood landing. A few pairs were also noted here. Each pair 
seemed to have its own locality. The pair whose nest we found on the 31st 
December nested again a few yards away from the site of the first nest, and 
had a pair of hard sat eggs by the 21st January. On the 27th a pair was noted 
with fully-grown young. On the Archer River Mr. McLennan noted a few 
pairs along the river, and found a nest containing two eggs on the 11th July.” 
When I drew up my 4 ‘ Reference List ” I was attempting to give expression 
to a lumping policy which proved impossible, as, though there may be limits 
to a splitter’s efforts, each species to a genus, there is none (save every bird 
in the world in one genus) to that of the lumper. Thus, as a world-famous 
ornithologist had confused a series of Australian “ Robins,” I concluded the 
observed structural differences might be minimised, and as colour values were 
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