E AST-AU STRALI AN GROTJND-THRTJSH.
Oreocincla heinii, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i. p. 6 (1850).
Oreocincla iodura, Gould, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) ix. p. 401 (1872).
Turdus iodurus, Newton, ed. Yarrell’s Brit. B. i. p. 256 (1872).
Geocichla heinii, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 157 (1881).
G. saprà rufescenti-brunnea, nigro lunulata : pileo baud ochraceo variegato : rectricibus externis latè (c. 25 mm.)
albo terminatis.
The present species was described by Professor Cabanis from a specimen in the celebrated private
collection of Oberamptmann Ferdinand Heine at Halberstadt. The locality was said to be “ Japan,
but this error was corrected by Cabanis in 1872 (J. f. O. 1872, p. 237), when examples from
Queensland reached the Berlin Museum. In the same year Gould redescribed the species as
Oreocincla iodura, and the type of the latter species is in the British Museum.
This Ground-Thrush seems to be confined to Eastern Australia. Dr. E. P. Ramsay gives its
range as from Cape York to Rockingham Bay and Port Denison, but he does hot recognize it as an
inhabitant of the Wide Bay or Clarence River districts; there is, however, an example in the
British Museum from the latter locality. Dr. Ramsay likewise includes it as an inhabitant of Southeastern
New Guinea, but in this instance I think G. papuensis has been mistaken for G. heinii.
The East-Australian Ground-Thrush has often been confused with the allied G. lunulata, and
nothing has been recorded of its habits. These are doubtless similar to those of the last-named bird.
Dr. Ramsay described the eggs of G. heinii from Rockingham Bay in 1875, under the name of
G. lunulata ; but as Mr. North, in his ‘ Descriptive Catalogue of the Nests and Eggs of Birds found
breeding in Australia and Tasmania,’ does not mention the present species, it is evident that he has
not yet met with authentic eggs.
Geocichla heinii is a very distinct species, resemibling Geocichla papuensis and Geocichla cuneata
in having the inner web of the outermost rectrices white for an inch or more. It differs from the
former of these two species in having the pale sub-terminal bars across the body-feathers of the upper
parts almost obsolete, even on the crown, and from the latter by its smaller bill, shorter tail, more
rufous upper tail-coverts, longer bastard-primary, and more pointed wing.
It is one of the smaller species, with a somewhat rounded wing, a long bastard-primary, a rather
short tail, and a rather large bill. Wing 5*2 to 4‘7 inches, tail 8*8 to 3*4 inches, culmen 1*25 to
IT inch, tarsus 1T8 to 1T5 inch. The first primary i s longer than the primary-coverts ; the second
primary is shorter than the fifth, but longer than the sixth ; 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.
The general colour of the upper .parts, especially of the rump and upper tail-coverts, is very
russet, and even in abraded summer plumage can scarcely be called olive. The black crescentic
markings on the upper parts are narrower than usual ; there is very little buff on the breast, and the
Geocichline markings on the inner webs of the quills are white.