NORTHERN SCRUB ROBIN. 
Gould again was fortunate in receiving such assistance from such enthu- 
siastic naturalists as is seen in the following item : “ Perhaps one of the 
most interesting birds discovered by me in the brushes of South Australia was 
a species of this form, to which I gave the name of Drymodes brunneopygia ; 
this second species of the genus is an inhabitant of the north-east coast ; and 
it will be seen by the following notes by Mr. Macgillivray that the two birds, 
as might be supposed, accord as nearly in their habits as they are allied in 
structure. ‘ While traversing on the 17th of November, 1849, a thin open 
scrub of small saplings growing in a stony ground thickly covered with dead 
leaves, about five or six miles inland from Cape York, I observed a nest placed 
on the earth at the foot of a small tree ; its internal diameter was four inches 
and a half ; it was outwardly composed of small sticks, with finer ones inside, 
and lined with grass-like fibres, and was moreover surrounded with dead leaves 
heaped up to a level with its upper surface ; it contained two eggs an inch long 
by seven-tenths of an inch broad, of a regular oval shape, and of a very light 
stone-grey, thickly covered with small umber blotches, which increased in size 
and were more thickly placed at the larger end ; they were placed side by side, 
with the large end of one opposite the small end of the other. After watching 
near the nest for some time, one of the owners appeared, and was procured ; 
but putrefaction having commenced before my return to the ship, I could not 
ascertain the sex with certainty ; it approached me within three or four yards, 
hopping with sudden jerks over the leaves, and moving by fits and starts like 
the Robin of Europe ; it uttered no cry or note during the time I was watching 
its motions. Two others were afterwards procured in the same kind of open 
scrub, and the birds, being probably in the immediate neighbourhood of their 
nest, hopped up quite close to the observer.’ ” 
Sixty odd years later another Macgillivray wrote : “ Fairly numerous in 
the scrub at Cape York, where its note, a long drawn out whistle, may often 
be heard in the breeding-season. It finds its living on the ground, where it 
hops about quietly, turning over leaves and other debris in search of hidden 
insect life. When they are nesting the male will at once put in an appearance 
when its call is imitated, and becomes very excited. The female does all the 
nest building and alone engages in the task of incubating the eggs. 22nd 
December, 1910 : Watched a pair of Scrub Robins for some time engaged in 
building a nest ; it was about half built. The female selects a leaf and then 
hops along to the nest. Male follows her about, but does not do any work. 
It is a difficult job watching these birds, as one cannot see far through the 
undergrowth, and you have to get down on your hands and knees and crawl 
about after them. Dec. 28, 1910 : Went out to Scrub Robin’s nest previously 
noted building. It came on to rain heavily after I had got some distance 
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