Page:The Emu volume 2.djvu/236

 visitant, nesting in the dead trees and stumps in clearings adjacent to timber.

(Pink-breasted Robin).—Found in one or two sheltered nooks along the Pass River where hazel, boobyalla, and blackwood flourish under the kindly shade of a few tall eucalypts. Attention is often first attracted to the bird by its sharp note, resembling very much the click of the grasshopper. A nest containing three eggs taken in November proves it to be a late breeder.

(Dusky Robin).—A species common everywhere, nesting sometimes on the dead trees in the clearings and sometimes in living scrub. The young, when they leave the nest, are streaky in appearance, and somewhat conspicuous objects when sitting on a dead twig waiting to be fed; each feather of the head and back has a light-coloured stripe down the centre, and the light-coloured feathers of the under surface are edged with brown. The old birds are very homely in appearance and in their ways, though at times they may become pugnacious. Their efforts at song are more indicative of their vivacity than their musical taste.

(Dusky Fantail).—This inhabits the Melaleuca scrub, and, excepting that its song differs, it appears to be very close to the mainland species, R. albiscapa.

(Dark Blue Wren), (Plate X.)—This was taken by the Field Naturalists' expedition in 1887 to be M. gouldi of Tasmania, but an examination of a series of skins at a later date proved it to be distinct—a much larger and darker bird. A number of skins procured during the recent trip fully justifies its separation as a new species. One specimen, however, appeared to be a connecting link, as regards colour, with M. gouldi; but as against this it is the largest in size of any yet taken, with a bill .55 inches in length. The measurements of the male of M. elizabethæ, taken in the flesh, are:—Length, 5.5 inches; bill, .5 in.; wing, 2.1 in.; tail, 2.5 in.; tarsus, 1.0 in. The dark intensified colour is seen not only in the blue but in the black of the upper surface; throat very deep Prussian blue, separated from the whitish abdomen by a band of black, below which again is a washing of light blue, half an inch wide on the flanks, but narrowing towards the centre of the chest; the lesser wing coverts are Prussian blue, and primaries are edged with light blue. The female has a brownish-blue tail, but the young in the first year have the tail of similar colour (brown) to the mantle. This Wren is one of the commonest birds on the island, being found not only in every patch of scrub and timber, but also inhabiting the tall grass and trefoil in the pasture. The theory that the Blue Wren of the mainland is polygamous is rendered uncertain when it is remembered that the females and immature males by far outnumber the full-plumaged males, and it has been suggested that several brown ones follow each brilliant lord about for company. On King Island the sexes are more evenly balanced. As proof that the Wrens are sociable, one incident will suffice, for when a party of three little short-tailed brown young ones, recently from the nest, was disturbed, no less than three brilliant males appeared, and, flitting up and down a log, within a foot or two of the intruder, showed as much concern as the mother bird herself.

(Large-billed Ground-Thrush).—A pair of birds was noted in a patch of tea-tree, among gum saplings The very delicate song of the male late in the afternoon is a counterpart of that of the mainland species, G. lunulata.