_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
CHTHONICOLA MINIMA.
Little Chthonicola.
_Anthus minimus_, Vig. & Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 230.
This pretty little bird is usually seen on the ground in small companies
of five or six in number, and is so very tame in disposition as to admit
of the nearest approach, and when flushed merely flits off to the
distance of a few yards. Its distribution, so far as we yet know, is
confined to New South Wales and South Australia, in both of which
countries it is a stationary and abundant species. It is very active in
its actions, running, or rather hopping, with great celerity over the
gravelly ridges of the ground beneath the shade of the apple- and
gum-trees.
The nest is of a domed form, and is placed among withered grass in a
depression of the ground, so as to be on a level with the surface, and
being formed of the same material as that with which it is surrounded,
it is all but impossible to discover it; the entrance is an extremely
small hole close to the ground. The eggs, which are four in number, are
of a light cochineal-red, with a zone of blackish brown spots at the
larger end; their medium length is nine lines by seven lines in breadth.
The sexes are very similar; some individuals however are distinguished
by the superciliary stripe being brown instead of white; whether this be
characteristic of youth or maturity, I have not satisfactorily
ascertained; I can scarcely conceive that so trivial a difference should
indicate a difference of species.
General plumage olive-brown, the feathers of the back with darker
centres, and of the head with a longitudinal stripe of buff down the
middle of each; primaries narrowly edged with whitish; tail slightly
tipped with white; under surface white, washed with yellow, each feather
with a broad stripe of blackish brown down the centre, except on the
middle of the abdomen, which is nearly pure white and without stripes;
irides straw-yellow; bill brown; feet fleshy brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
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