DHYAL BIRD. 
489 
the Chatham Islands; the species peculiar to the latter group of islands being 
entirely black. The North Island robin (M. australis ) is confined to the gloomy 
forests of the interior of the North Island; and the following description of its 
habits is given by Sir Walter Buller, who writes that, “ as the popular name implies, 
it is naturally a tame bird; and in little-frequented parts of the country it is so 
fearless and unsuspicious of man that it will approach within a yard of the 
traveller, and sometimes will even perch on his head or shoulder. It is a favourite 
companion of the lonesome woodcutter, enlivening him with its cheerful notes; 
and when sitting on a log, he partakes of his humble meal, it hops about his feet 
like the traditional robin, to pick up the crumbs. Like its namesake in the old 
country, moreover, it is noisy, active, and cheerful. Its note is generally the first to 
herald the dawn, while it is the last to be hushed when evening shades bring gloom 
into the forest. But there is this noticeable difference between the morning and 
the evening performance; the former consists of a scale of notes, commencing very 
high and running down to a low key, uttered in quick succession, and with all the 
energy of a challenge to the rest of the feathered tribe. The evening performance 
is merely a short, chirping note, quickly repeated, and with rather a melancholy 
sound; three or four of them will sometimes join in a chirping chorus, and continue 
it until the shades of advancing twilight have deepened into night. It lives almost 
entirely on small insects, and the worms and grubs that are to be found among 
decaying leaves and other vegetable matter on the surface of the ground in every 
part of the woods. Its nature is pugnacious, and in the pairing-season the male 
birds often engage in sharp encounters with each other.” The North Island robin 
goes to nest in October and November. The nest is generally against the bole of 
a tree at a moderate height from the ground, built of coarse moss, lined with 
fern-hair and vegetable fibres. The eggs are creamy white in ground-colour, 
thickly freckled, and speckled with purple and brown. It is much to be 
regretted that this charming little bird has recently become comparatively rare, 
though the robin found in the South Island is still fairly abundant. The 
adult male has the upper-parts dull ashy grey, the feathers having whitish shafts; 
the wings are dark brown, with white bases to the secondaries; the tail-feathers 
are dusky brown, margined with ash; the throat, breast, and sides of the body are 
hoary grey ; and the abdomen is white. 
We come next to a small group of birds closely related to the 
redstarts and robins, but distinguished from all other members of this 
subfamily by the black and white tail, equal in length to the wing, and consider- 
ably graduated. Peculiar to the Old World, these birds are most abundant in the 
Indian region; the finest songster amongst them being the white-browed warbler 
(Copsychus albospecularis ) of Madagascar, the notes of which rival those of the 
sweetest European birds. The common dhyal bird ( C '. saularis) of India, repre¬ 
sented in the woodcut, occurs in every part of the empire. It is resident in Ceylon 
and Southern China, but is replaced by G. mindanensis in the Philippines. The 
Indian species is a common and familiar bird throughout its range, exhibiting a 
confiding and friendly disposition like the European redbreast. The cocks are 
highly pugnacious in the breeding season, and engage in frequent scrimmages with 
their rivals. The nest is a rough structure, built in a hole of a tree, in an old 
