F ig I . GEOCICHLA H E IN I I .
2- ■ PAPUENSIS.
GEOCICHLA PAPUENSIS, Seebohm.
NEW-GUINEA GROUND-THRUSH.
Geocichla papuensis, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 158, pi. ix. (1881).
Oreooincla papuensis, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xviii. p. 426 (1883).
G. suprk rufescenti-brunnea, nigro lunulata: pileo ochraceo variegato : rectricibus exterioribus intus late albis.
T his species was discovered in the Astrolabe range of mountains in South-eastern New Guinea
by Mr. A. Goldie. The type is in the British Museum, and is at- present apparently the only one
known. Nothing has been recorded of its habits.
Geocichla. papuensis is apparently a very good species. It . is the smallest in the sub-genus
Oreocincla, but when a larger series has been obtained it will probably be found to intergrade in
size with G. imbricata. Its chief characteristic is the great amount of white on the inner web of the
outermost tail-feathers, the white extending for nearly two inches, somewhat more than in the
allied species G. heinii and G. cuneata. It differs from both these species in having golden-buff
sub-terminal bars across the feathers of the crown, and from the latter in having a proportionately
shorter tail, besides being a smaller bird than either.
Wing 4‘4 inches, tail 3’05 inches, culmen *95 inch, tarsus 1*12 inch. The first primary is
about the same length as the primary-coverts, the second primary is about equal to the six th ; the
tail, which consists of only twelve feathers, is less than four-fifths of the length of the wing, and the
outermost rectrices are very little shorter than the longest.
In colour the species scarcely differs from Geocichla heinii, the brown of the upper parts
being very russet, but there is more white on the outermost rectrices, and each feather of the crown
and nape is crossed by a golden-buff sub-terminal band. The Geocichline markings on the under
surface of the wing are buff, not white.
The figure in the Plate is drawn life-size from the type in the British Museum.