THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
green on the sides of the body ; thighs dusky ; axiUaries and under wing-coverts 
yellow the latter more or less mixed with brown ; inner edges of flight-quills below 
whitish fading to buff towards the tips, remainder greyish-brown ; lower aspect 
of tail greyish-brown tipped with white, the inner margins of the feathers buff. 
Eyes brown ; feet yellow, bill black. Total length 130 mm. ; culmen 12, wing 81, tail 
55, tarsus 21. Figured. Collected near Cairns, North Queensland, in October 1908. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female. 
Immature. Crown of head dusky greyish-brown with pale shaft-lines to the feathers, 
many of the feathers rust colour especially on the nape ; lores and sides of the face 
pale rust colour with more or less grey intermixed ; back and upper wing-coverts 
yellowish -green some of the feathers on the former rust colour rather darker than 
those on the top of the head, greater upper wing-coverts blackish-brown tipped 
with rust colour ; outer edge of wing sulphur-yellow ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, 
and flight-quills blackish-brown with pale edges to the inner webs of the last and 
yellowish-green margins to the outer webs, innermost secondaries tipped with rust 
colour ; upper tail-coverts pale rust colour ; tail greyish-brown with yellowish-green 
margins on the outer webs and whitish on the inner edges, increasing in width at 
the tips of the feathers ; frontal plumes and rictal bristles black ; throat cream- 
white ; fore-neck and breast rust colour more or less intermixed with yellow ; 
abdomen and under tail-coverts cream- white, the latter tinged with yellow ; sides 
of abdomen pale rust colour ; sides of body and axillaries yellow with more or less 
rust colour intermixed ; under wing-coverts sulphur-yellow, the greater series 
greyish-brown at the base and white at the tips like the base of the quills below ; 
under-surface of flight-quills dark brown ; lower aspect of tail rather paler with 
whitish tips to the feathers. Eyes brown ; feet yellow ; bill black, lower mandible 
with yellow edges. Collected at Mt. Formartine, Cairns district, North Queensland, 
on the 21st of November, 1911. 
Nest. Cup-shaped. Composed of pieces of bark and leaves matted together with cobwebs, 
the outside decorated with lichen. Lined with fibre. Outside dimensions 2f inches 
by 2f deep. Inside If inches by If deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, two. Ground-colour greenish-white, dotted and blotched with yellowish- 
or chestnut-brown, more on the larger end. 19-21 mm. by 14-16. 
Breeding-season. September to December. 
Mr. F. Strange was an enthusiastic naturalist, who made large collections 
in Australia and New Zealand, and who was also a martyr, being murdered 
by the natives on one of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The present 
species was discovered by him, as acknowledged by Gould, on the Brisbane 
River, Queensland. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has sent me the following account : “I was pleased to 
come across the Large-headed Robin when I was at the Blackall Ranges, near 
Mt. Cooroy, and still more so to find it breeding in the subtropical scrubs of 
the district. In its habits it is a quiet little Robin, flying with noiseless flight 
from tree to tree. I would be waiting motionless and half hidden, watching 
the movements of some scrub bird, when one of these little birds would perch 
itself quite close to me and look at me with wide open eyes of astonishment, 
* 
and after satisfying itself that I was ‘ all right,’ flit to another tree to see what 
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