_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
CINCLOSOMA PUNCTATUM, _Vig. & Horsf._
Spotted Ground-Thrush.
_Turdus Punctatus_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xliv.
_Punctated Thrush_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 187.—Ib. Gen.
Hist., vol. v. p. 130.—Shaw, Zool. New Holl., p. 25.—Ib.
Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 202.
_Cinclosoma Punctatum_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
220.—Griff. An. King., vol. vi. p. 529. pl. 29.
This species has been long known to ornithologists, being one of the
birds earliest described from Australia; still little or no information
has hitherto been acquired respecting its habits and economy, which,
however, are extremely interesting.
It is everywhere a stationary species, and enjoys an extensive range of
habitat, being distributed over the whole of Van Diemen’s Land and the
eastern portion of Australia, from Moreton Bay to Spencer’s Gulf, to the
westward of which I have never been able to trace it, and I have
therefore reason to believe that this is the limit of its range in that
direction; its place appearing to be supplied in Western Australia by
the species represented in the succeeding Plate. During my researches in
South Australia, I found both species sparingly dispersed over the
country, in such localities as are suitable to their habits, between the
great bend of the Murray and Lake Alexandrina; this, therefore, would
seem to be the border-line of their range on either hand; how far these
species are spread to the northward, is yet to be determined.
The Spotted Ground-Thrush gives a decided preference to the summits of
low stony hills and rocky gullies, particularly those covered with
scrubs and grasses. Its flight is very limited, and this power is rarely
employed, except for the purpose of crossing a gully or passing to a
neighbouring scrub; it readily eludes pursuit by the facility with which
it runs over the stony surface and conceals itself among the underwood.
When suddenly flushed it rises with a loud burring noise, like the Quail
or Partridge. Its short flight is performed by a succession of
undulations, and is terminated by the bird pitching abruptly to the
ground almost at right angles.
It seldom perches on the smaller branches of trees, but may be
frequently seen to run along the fallen trunks so common in the
Australian forests.
Unlike many others of the Thrush family which are celebrated for their
song, the note of this species merely consists of a low piping whistle,
frequently repeated while among the underwood, and by which its presence
is often indicated.
In Hobart Town it is frequently exposed for sale in the markets with
Bronzewing Pigeons and Wattle-birds, where it is known by the name of
Ground-Dove, an appellation which has doubtless been given both from its
habit of running and feeding upon the ground like the Pigeons, and the
circumstance of its flesh being very delicate eating; to its excellence
in this respect I can bear testimony. The pectoral muscles are very
largely developed, and the body, when plucked, has much the contour of a
Quail.
The duty of incubation is performed in October and the three following
months, during which period two and often three broods are produced. The
nest is a slight and rather careless structure, composed of leaves and
the inner bark of trees, and is of a round open form; it is always
placed on the ground, under the shelter of a large stone, stump of a
tree, or a tuft of grass. The eggs are two, and sometimes three, in
number, one inch and three lines long, and are white, blotched with
large marks of olive-brown, particularly at the larger end, some of the
spots appearing as if on the inner surface of the shell. The young,
which at two days old are thickly clothed with long black down, like the
young of the genus _Rallus_, soon acquire the power of running, and at
an early age assume the plumage of the adult, after which they are
subject to no periodical change in their appearance. The stomach is very
muscular, and in those dissected were found the remains of seeds and
caterpillars mingled with sand.
Adult males have the forehead and chest ash-grey; crown of the head,
back, rump, and the middle tail-feathers rufous brown, each feather of
the back having a broad longitudinal stripe of black down the centre;
shoulders and wing-coverts steel-black, each feather having a spot of
white at the extreme tip; primaries blackish brown, margined on their
outer edges with lighter brown; throat and a narrow band across the
chest steel-black; stripe over the eye, a nearly circular spot on the
side of the neck, and the centre of the abdomen white; flanks and under
tail-coverts reddish buff, with a large oblong stripe of black down the
centre of each feather; lateral tail-feathers black, broadly margined
with grey on their inner webs, and largely tipped with white; bill
black; legs fleshy-white; feet darker; eyes very dark lead-colour, with
a naked blackish brown eyelash. The female differs from the male in
having all the upper surface of a lighter hue; the throat greyish white
instead of black; the spot on the neck rufous instead of white, and in
being destitute of the black pectoral band.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
CINCLOSOMA CASTANOTUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
CINCLOSOMA CASTANOTUS, _Gould_.
Chestnut-backed Ground-Thrush.
_Cinclosoma castanotus_, Gould, Proc. of Zool. Soc., September 8,
1840.
_Boȍne-Yung_, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western
Australia.
This new species of _Cinclosoma_ appears to be as much confined to the
southern and western portions of Australia as the preceding species is
to the eastern. It inhabits various parts of the great scrub bordering
the Murray above Lake Alexandrina, and I have ascertained that it is
also found in the neighbourhood of Swan River.
The economy of the present bird closely resembles that of the Spotted
Ground-Thrush, as the similarity of their form would naturally lead us
to expect; but the more level plains, particularly those that are
studded with clumps of dwarf trees and scrubs, would appear to be the
situations for which it is more peculiarly adapted, at least such was
the character of the country in the Belts of the Murray where I
discovered it. On the other hand, it is stated in the notes accompanying
specimens received from Swan River, that “it is rarely seen in any but
the most barren and rocky places. The white-gum forests, here and there
studded with small patches of scrub, are its favourite haunts. It is
only found in the interior; the part nearest to the coast, where it has
been observed, being Bank’s Hutts on the York Road about fifty-three
miles from Fremantle.”
Its disposition is naturally shy and wary, a circumstance which cannot
be attributed to any dread of man as an enemy, since it inhabits parts
scarcely ever visited either by the natives or Europeans. Few persons, I
may safely say, had ever discharged a gun in that rich arboretum, the
Belts of the Murray, before the period of my being there; still the bird
was so difficult of approach, that it required the utmost exertion to
procure any number of specimens. They were generally observed in small
troops of four or six in number, running through the scrub one after
another in a line, and resorting to a short low flight, when crossing
the small intervening plains. The facility with which it runs over the
surface of the ground is even greater than in its near ally, and on
examination the toes will be found shorter than in that species, and
admirably suited to its terrestrial habits: although it doubtless
possesses the power of perching, I do not recollect having ever seen it
on a tree.
In its mode of flight and nidification it assimilates so closely to the
Spotted Ground-Thrush, as to render a separate description superfluous.
The stomach is extremely muscular, and the food consists of seeds and
the smaller kind of _Coleoptera_.
The male has the crown of the head, ear-coverts, back of the neck, upper
part of the back, upper tail-coverts and two central tail-feathers
brown; stripe over the eye, and another from the base of the lower
mandible down the side of the neck white; scapularies and lower part of
the back rich chestnut; shoulders and wing-coverts black, each feather
having a spot of white at the tip; primaries and secondaries dark brown,
margined with lighter brown; lateral tail-feathers black, largely tipped
with white; chin, throat and centre of the breast steel-black; sides of
the chest and flanks brownish grey, the latter blotched with black;
centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts white; bill black; base of
the under mandible lead-colour; irides reddish hazel; legs blackish
brown. The female differs in having the whole of the plumage much
lighter, and with only a slight tinge of chestnut on the rump; the
stripes of white over the eye and down the sides of the neck less
distinctly marked; the chin, throat and breast grey instead of black;
the irides hazel, and the feet leaden brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
CINCLOSOMA CINNAMOMEUS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
CINCLOSOMA CINNAMOMEUS, _Gould_.
Cinnamon-coloured Cinclosoma.
_Cinclosoma cinnamomeus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XIV. p.
68.
We are indebted to the researches of that enterprising traveller Captain
Sturt for our knowledge of this new _Cinclosoma_, which is the more
interesting as forming an additional species of a singular group of
Ground-Thrushes peculiar to Australia, of which only two were previously
known. The specimen from which my figure is taken now forms part of the
collection at the British Museum, and we learn from Captain Sturt that
it was the only one procured during his lengthened sojourn at the Depôt
in that sterile and inhospitable country, the interior of Australia.
It is considerably smaller than either of its congeners, the _C.
castanotus_ and _C. punctatum_, and, moreover, differs from them in the
cinnamon colouring of the greater portion of its plumage.
The whole of the upper surface, scapularies, two central tail-feathers,
sides of the breast and flanks cinnamon-brown; wing-coverts jet-black,
each feather largely tipped with white; above the eye a faint stripe of
white; lores and throat glossy black, with a large oval patch of white
seated within the black, beneath the eye; under surface white, with a
large arrow-shaped patch of glossy black on the breast; feathers on the
sides of the abdomen with a broad stripe of black down the centre;
lateral tail-feathers jet-black, largely tipped with pure white; under
tail-coverts black for four-fifths of their length on the outer web,
their inner webs and tips white; eyes brown; tarsi olive; toes black.
The accompanying Plate represents the bird in two positions of the
natural size.
[Illustration: