The dusky robin (Melanodryas vittata) is a small passerine bird native to Tasmania. A member of the Australian robin family Petroicidae, it is known by many other names such as Dozey, Sad, Sleepy, Stump, Tasmania/Wood Robin; Native Sparrow or Sad Bird.

This sombre dark brown robin is characterised by a narrow line, starting from behind the eye to the rear of the ear-coverts and white bars running down it wings. The origin of its binomial name was derived from a Latin word vittatus, which means 'banded'.

Elizabeth Gould, née Coxen (1804—1841), was a British artist and illustrator at the forefront of the natural history movement. Elizabeth traveled and worked alongside her husband, naturalist and author John Gould. She produced illustrations and lithographs for ornithological works, including plates in Darwin's The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle and the Goulds' seminal work The Birds of Australia. In total, Elizabeth is accredited to at least 650 works. While in Australia, Elizabeth made hundreds of drawings from specimens for the publications Birds of Australia and A Monograph of the Macropodidæ, or Family of Kangaroos, as well as illustrations for the ornithology volume of Charles Darwin’s Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle