GE 0 € IC HLA D 0 H E R T Y I .
DOHERTY’S GROUND-THRUSH.
Geocichla dohertyi, Hartert, Novitates Zoologicse, iii. pp. 555, 566, 593, pi. xi. fig. 3 (1896).
G. tectricibus alarum merliis et majoribus albo terminatis: notseo castaneo: pileo nigro : mento albo: gutture
et prsepectore nigris : hypochondriis nigro maculatis; regione paroticfi. alb&, fascia nigra.
T his fine species of Ground-Thrush was discovered by Mr. Doherty in the island of Lombok, where
it was also met with by Mr. Everett. Mr. Doherty further obtained it in Sambawa, where it
occurred in the mountains of Tambora at about 3000 feet.
The nearest allies of G. dohertyi are evidently G. interjpres, G. erythronota, and G. leucolcema,
but it is quite distinct from any of them. Mr. Hartert says that the species was found in Lombok at
elevations of from 2000 to 5000 feet, where there were a good many young birds, and some of the
old ones moulting. Nothing has been recorded of the habits of the species, but these can scarcely
differ from those of other species of Geocichla.
Doherty’s Ground-Thrush can be distinguished from all the other species of the chestnut-backed
section of Geocichla by its black head, and from G. leucolcema by the white on the ear-coverts. It
maybe described as follows :—General colour of upper surface chestnut, a little brighter on the rump
and upper tail-coverts; the crown of the head black; lores white, extending in a narrow line above
the eye; sides of face and ear-coverts also white, the latter traversed by a broad streak of black, which
runs from below the eye to the cheeks, which are black, like the throat and chest; the chin white;
wing-coverts black, the median and greater series broadly tipped with white, forming a double wing-
band; primary-coverts and quills black, with a narrow white margin to the fifth and sixth primaries ;
tail-feathers black, with a white spot"at the end of the inner web; under surface of body white, the
breast and sides orange-chestnut, with crescentic marks of black, less prominent on the flanks; under
wing-coverts white, with black tips, the lower greater coverts black, broadly tipped with white.
Geocichline markings at the bases of the quills, white.
Second primary intermediate between the sixth and seventh: “ bill blackish, with a pale base
to the mandible ; feet whitish ; iris brown ” (W. Doherty). Tail nearly square, the outer feather very
slightly shorter than the longest.
Length of wing 4*2 inches, tail 2-75 inches, culmen 0*8 inch, tarsus 1'2 inch; bastard-
primary about equal to the primary-coverts, its exposed portion measuring 0*95 inch.
The female is like the male, but a trifle smaller.
According to Mr. Hartert, the young birds are “ of a darker chestnut above, with paler shaft-
lines to the feathers; the feathers of the top of the head black, with longitudinal chestnut spots
before the tip, the white everywhere washed with a pale ochraceous rust-colour; the underparts
washed all over with ochraceous; the breast like the abdomen and with very little black; the
feathers of the sides of the body with smaller black spots or only broad black fringes.”
The figures in the Plate are drawn from one of Mr. Everett’s Lombok specimens in the British
Museum. • . [B. B. S.]