('HTMWMC1ML.A MIMMA.
CHTHONICOLA MINIMA.
Little Chthonicola.
Anthus minimus, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 230.
T his 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 o f 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 o f the ground, so as to
be on a level with the surface, and being formed o f the same material as that with which it is surrounded, it
is all but impossible to discover i t ; the entrance is an extremely small hole close to the ground. The eggs,
which are four in number, are o f 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 o f youth or maturity, I have not satisfactorily ascertained
; I can scarcely conceive that so trivial a difference should indicate a difference o f species.
General plumage olive-brown, the feathers o f the back with darker centres, and o f the head with a longitudinal
stripe of buff down the middle o f each; primaries narrowly edged with whitish; tail slightly tipped
with white; under surface white, washed with yellow, each feather with a broad stripe o f blackish brown
down the centre, except on the middle o f 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.