Part 8

The female is uniform brown above; wings dark brown; tertials and wing-coverts edged with reddish grey; tail brown; the outer tail-feathers on each side almost wholly white; all the under surface reddish grey; irides, bill and feet black.

The young resembles the female, but has the centre of the feathers lighter, and the corners of the mouth yellow; bill and feet blackish brown.

The Plate represents the male, female and nest of the natural size.

PETROICA BICOLOR: Swains.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

PETROICA BICOLOR, Swains. Pied Robin.

Muscicapa cucullata, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. 51?

Hooded Flycatcher, Lath. Gen. Syn., Supp., vol. ii. p. 223? and Gen. Hist., vol. vi. p. 216?

Petroica bicolor, Swains. III. Zool., 2nd Ser., pl. 43.

Jil-but, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

Goȍ-ba-mȍgin, Aborigines around Perth, Western Australia.

Black Robin of the Colonists.

If we consider the Pied Robins from Swan River and the north-west coast of Australia as identical with, or mere varieties of, those killed in New South Wales, from which they differ only in being smaller in all their admeasurements, then the range of the present bird will be very extensive, and in fact its dispersion over the Australian continent almost universal. The Petroica bicolor has never been found in Van Diemen’s Land, nor is it probable that it proceeds so far south. It loves to dwell in the open parts of the country rather than in the thick brushes. I have always found it most numerous on such flats as were studded here and there with large trees, among the lower branches of which, as well as on the ground immediately beneath them, it might be observed darting about for insects in the most bold and active manner; the jet-black colouring of its upper surface, contrasted with the whiteness of the other parts, rendering it very conspicuous, particularly when its wings and tail are displayed to their full extent.

Its food consists solely of insects of various kinds, particularly coleoptera and their larvæ.

The breeding-season commences in September and continues during the four following months; in this period two broods at least are reared. The nest, which is rather small and shallow, is formed of dried grasses, strips of bark and fibrous roots, bound together and partly smoothed over with cobwebs, the inside being lined with fine wire-like fibres, and generally a little wool at the bottom; it is placed on the dried branch of a small tree, resting against the trunk, or in the fork of a fallen branch within two or three feet of the ground. The eggs, which are three in number and of a rather lengthened form, are light olive green without any spots or markings, but occasionally washed with brown, particularly at the larger end; their medium length is ten lines and a half, and breadth seven lines and a half.

This species possesses a simple call-note, so feeble and weak as only to be heard at the distance of a few yards.

The male has the head, throat, neck, back, rump, upper tail-coverts and the two centre tail-feathers deep velvety black; the next tail-feather on each side black on the inner web, white on the outer web, and largely tipped with black, the remainder of the tail-feathers white, largely tipped with black; feathers covering the insertion of the wing white; wings dull black, the secondaries edged with white; an oblique band of white across all but the two first primaries near their base; under surface of the shoulder, breast, abdomen and under tail-coverts white; irides brownish black; bill black; feet blackish brown.

The female has the upper surface dark brownish grey; wings brown, with the oblique band less prominent than in the male; under surface light brownish grey, passing into white on the vent and under tail-coverts; tail brown, the lateral feathers white at the base, the white continuing to near the tip on the external web of the outer feather.

The young immediately after leaving the nest is dark brown, with a stripe of light brown down the centre of each feather, the markings of the wings and tail resembling those of the adult; under surface like the upper, but becoming white as it proceeds towards the vent.

The Plate represents the male and female on a branch of the Currijong, all of the natural size.

Petroica Fusca: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

PETROICA FUSCA, Gould. Dusky Robin.

This unadorned species of Robin is very abundantly distributed over all those parts of Van Diemen’s Land that are suitable to its habits; it gives preference to thinly-timbered hills, and all such plains and low grounds as are sterile and covered here and there with thickets and stunted brushwood. In its manners and whole economy it closely assimilates to the Red-breasted Robins; I frequently observed it sitting on the stumps of dead and fallen trees, on the railings of inclosures, gardens and other similar situations. Its food appeared to consist solely of insects, which it swallows entire, even coleoptera of a large size.

Its nest, which is rather large and of a cup-shape, is formed of coarse fibrous roots, small twigs, strings of bark and dried grasses intermixed with very fine hair-like fibrous roots, wool, and the soft seed-stalks of mosses. The size and form of the nest depend upon the nature of the situation chosen for a site; if a ledge or fissure of a rock, it is much spread out, but with the inside and top very neatly finished; the opening measures on an average about two inches and a half, and the nest is about one inch and a quarter in depth.

The eggs, which are three or four in number, differ in colour from those of every other member of the genus, but more nearly assimilate in tint and markings to those of Petroica bicolor than of any other. They are of a light greenish blue, freckled and spotted with minute indistinct markings of brown; their medium length is ten lines, and breadth seven and a half lines.

Although I have paid considerable attention to the distribution of this species, I have never been able to meet with it on the continent of Australia, or in any other country than Van Diemen’s Land; still I cannot positively assert that it is not an inhabitant of the Australian continent. It is very numerous about Hobart Town, both in the gulleys under Mount Wellington, and on the opposite side of the Derwent towards Clarence Plains.

Its note is low and monotonous, without any peculiar character.