Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

"`This bird,' Mr. Caley says, `is called yellow-robin by the colonists. It is an inhabitant of bushes'"

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii:

Plate
<i>Petroica superciliosa</i>, Gould, White-eyebrowed
Robin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

<i>Drymodes brunneopygia</i>, Gould, Scrub Robin. . 10

<i>Eopsaltria leucogaster</i>, Gould, White-bellied Robin . . . . . . . 13

1864. R. L. A. Davies, `Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 263:

"Very soon comes a robin. . . . In the bush no matter where you pitch, the robin always comes about, and when any other of his tribe comes about, he bristles up his feathers, and fights for his crumbs. . . . He is not at all pretty, like the Australian or European robin, but a little sober black and grey bird, with long legs, and a heavy paunch and big head; like a Quaker, grave, but cheerful and spry withal." [This is the Robin of New Zealand.]

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 93:

"The New Zealand robin was announced, and I could see only a fat little ball of a bird, with a yellowish-white breast."

1869. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia' [Supplement]: