_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ORIGMA RUBRICATA.
Rock-Warbler.
_Sylvia rubricata_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. li.—Bonn. et Vieill.
Ency. Méth. Orn., part ii. p. 461.
_Ruddy Warbler_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 249.—Shaw, Gen.
Zool., vol. x. p. 697.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vii. p. 138.
_Motacilla solitaria_, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pl. 16.
_Solitary Flycatcher_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vi. p. 220.
_Saxicola solitaria_, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 236.
_Origma solitaria_, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p.
30.
Perhaps no one of the smaller birds of New South Wales has attracted a
greater share of the attention of ornithologists than the present; a
desire indeed of gaining a more complete knowledge of its habits and
manners has been generally expressed. Aware of this fact, I made myself
as much acquainted therewith as circumstances would admit; and found
that they are very peculiar, and different from those of most other
birds. Its usual places of resort are the neighbourhood of water-courses
and stony, rocky gullies; so exclusively in fact is it confined to such
situations, that it never visits the forests, nor have I ever seen it
perching on the branches of the trees; indeed it would seem to have an
aversion to so doing, as it does not even resort to them as a
resting-place for its nest, but suspends it to the ceilings of caverns
and the under surface of overhanging rocks in a manner that is most
surprising; the nest, which is of an oblong, globular form, and composed
of moss and other similar substances, is suspended by a narrow neck, and
presents one of the most singular instances of bird architecture that
has yet come under my notice. The breeding-season extends over the
months of September, October and November, when it is not unusual to
find three or four nests suspended to the ceiling of a small dark
cavern. I did not succeed in procuring its eggs.
Its food consists of insects of various kinds.
Its note is a low, squeaking sound, which it utters while hopping about
the rocks with its tail raised above the level of the body, after the
manner of some of the _Acanthizæ_.
The true habitat of this species is New South Wales, which, so far as I
am aware, is its exclusive place of abode; I have never seen it from any
of the other colonies: over that part of the country it is very
generally distributed wherever situations occur suitable to its habits;
the rocky beds of the gullies, both near the coast and among the
mountains of the interior, being equally frequented by it, but never in
any great numbers. It will be seen that it was one of the birds which
excited the notice and interest of Mr. Caley, who, in his “Notes,” says,
“_Cataract Bird_; an inhabitant of rocky ground. While at the waterfall
of Carrung-gurring, about thirty miles to the southward of Prospect
Hill, I saw several of them. I have also seen them in the North Rocks,
about a couple of miles from Paramatta, and always upon the rocks. I
never observed them in trees or bushes.”
The sexes are precisely similar in their plumage, which may be thus
described:—
All the upper surface and wings dull brown; tail brownish black; throat
grey; under surface dark rusty red; forehead slightly washed with
ferruginous red; irides dark reddish brown; bill and feet brownish
black, the former rather lighter than the latter.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration: