composed of roots, intermingled with a few twigs and a little grass, and the cavity lined with roots
and slender petioles of tlie nelly-kai.
“ ‘ This nest contained three partly-incnhated eggs. The birds were very shy; I visited the nest
four times before I shot the male, and six before I shot the female. Directly I approached the nest
the bird noiselessly dropped on to the ground and crept away through the brushwood. "When
disturbing them, I noticed that their call was low and sweet like that of the Blackbird when
similarly disturbed.
“ ‘ On the 9th I found a second nest, this time about 500 feet lower, at the foot of the hill,
was built in a loijuat tree, in a fork about 22 feet from the ground, and was in every respect similar
to the last except that a little moss had been used in its construction. The birds were very brave,
defending their nest against one of those thieves of Crow-Pheasants, and it was the noise they made
that attracted me to the nest. Again I was struck with the great similarity of their notes to those
of the Blackbird when its nest is being robbed. This nest contained four perfectly fresh eggs,
of which I took three, and then watched the old birds return to the nest, where they | ||k e the one
egg I had left to pieces. They have, however, begun another nest in a jack-tree close by.
“ ‘ Their song is never heard except in the early mornings and evenings, and mostly in
the latter. They go hopping about under the coffee-trees, and scratching up and turning over the
leaves in search of food.’
“ Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says : f | I t breeds in the forests of
the western coast in August and September, building in small trees. The nest is composed
of grass, leaves, twigs, &c., with the usual clay foundation which is found in almost all Thrushes
nests, and is lined with fine roots and hairs. The eggs are from three to four in number, of a pale
greyish-blue colour, thickly speckled with minute reddish-brown spots. The average dimensions are
0-95 inch in length by 0‘77 in breadth.’
“ The eggs strike one as rather small for the size of the bird. In shape they are moderately
broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end. The shell is fine and fairly glossy, and
some eggs have a really fine gloss.
“ The general character of the egg is very Meruline. The ground-colour, very little of which in
some eggs is visible, is a pale bluish or greenish white, and it is thickly freckled, blotched,
and streaked with more .or less brownish or purplish red. The markings are usually most
dense at the large end, where they often form a bold confluent cap, and at this larger end a
few lilac spots are Commonly intermingled with the red markings. Some eggs have all the
markings fine and very thickly spread over the whole surface. Others have them thick, bold,
and blotchy all over the large end half, with only a few small spots scattered over the other half,
and between these two types intermediate forms occur.
“ The eggs measure from 0-9 to T08 in length, and from 0*71 to 0‘79 in breadth, but the
average o ften eggs is 0’99 by 0*75.”
The White-throated Ground-Thrush is a forest bird and is very partial to bamboo-jungles. It
feeds on the ground and generally perches low. Its principal food consists of insects ants,
cockroaches, beetles, &c.,—but it is also fond of stony fruit. It has rather a sweet song (Jerdon,
Birds of India, i. p. 517).
The adult male may be described as f o l l o w s Forehead, crown, and nape olive-chestnut;
the rest of the upper parts greyish-blue, each feather with a darker centre; lores white; eye-stripe
obsolete; lesser wing-coverts greyish-blue; median wing-coverts greyish-blue, with concealed brown
bases and broad white tips; greater wing-coverts greyish-blue, with dark brown inner webs;
primary-coverts greyish-blue, with dark brown inner webs; tertials greyish-blue; secondaries
brown, margined with greyish-blue on the ■ outer webs ; primaries brown, margined more or
less with bluish-white on the outer webs; tail-feathers brown, suffused with greyish-blue on both
webs of the centre pair and on the outer webs of the others; lateral tail-feathers with pale tips.
Ear-coverts white, crossed by two broad dark russet-brown bands; chin, cheeks, and throat
white; the rest of the underparts buffish-chestnut, shading into white on the belly, thighs, and under
tail-coverts; axillaries bluish-grey, with white bases; lower primary-coverts bluish-grey; lower
secondary-coverts white, with bluish-grey bases.
Geocichline markings on inner webs of quills, white.
Bill black; second primary intermediate in length between the sixth and seventh; tarsi, feet,
and claws flesh-coloured; outer tail-feathers 0-07 inch shorter than the longest.
Length of wing 4-3 to 4*0 inches, tail 3*1 to 2-8 inches, culmen 0*9 to 0-85 inch, tarsus 1'2 to
1-15 inch; bastard-primary projecting beyond the primary-coverts, its exposed portion measuring 1*0
to 0*85 inch.
The female is less bright in colour, the upper parts having a greenish-brown shade, with
yellowish edges to the feathers, while the wings are shaded with green.
Young in first plumage appear to be unknown.
An example in my collection, apparently a female, though it is sexed a male, dated
December 4th, has the terminal spots on the median wing-coverts rufous instead, of white ; and
three males and two females in the British Museum, dated November, January, and April, have
more or less obscure rufous tips to the greater wing-coverts; whilst three males in the same
collection, shot in March and April, have more or less obscure white terminal margins to
the greater wing-coverts. All these doubtless represent various stages of immaturity.
The White-throated Ground-Thrush is very distinct from all its allies, and it is difficult
to say to which of them it is most nearly related. It has the head and neck of Geocichla peroni
joined to the body of Geocichla c itrin a ; but there can be little doubt that its affinities are
much more with the latter than with the former species.
The Plate shows a life-sized male of this species in my collection, obtained in the Ahmednuggar
district by S. B. Fairbank on the 22nd of May, 1875.
Jardine and Selby’s figure of the type is also of liie-size, and is a fairly good one, except that
the artist has drawn, the tarsus as scutellated in front, which of course is incorrect.
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