LARGE BROWN GROUND-THRUSH.
Zoothera montícola, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 172.
Turdus rostratus, Hodgs. Icon. ined. in Brit. Mus., Passeres, pi. 144. nos. 268, '269, and
pl. 146. no. 269.
Geocichla montícola, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 161 (1881).
G. suprb schistaceo-brunnea, vix maculata ; superotto pallido nullo : pectore toto nigro maculato : hypochoudriis
sparsim maculatis.
T his Ground-Thrush was described by Vigors from a specimen in the collection of the Zoological
Society, which was afterwards figured by Gould in his ‘ Century of Himalayan Birds.’ The typical
specimen appears not to hare been taken by the British Museum with the other types belonging to
the Society’s old Museum.
r According to Gray (Cat. Mamm. & Birds of Nepal, 1846, p. 79), the present species was
described hy Hodgson as Tardus rostratus in the ‘ Quarterly Magazine ’ about the year. 1826, from a
specimen discovered by the last-named naturalist in Nepal. I have never seen the original description
o f Turdus rostratus, and the name must not be allowed to take precedence over that of Vigors, until
the quotation in the * Quarterly Magazine ’ can he verified. Until this is doné, the name of Turdus
rostratus must.remain as a nomen nudum, being attached only to the unpublished drawings of
Hodgson’s in the British Museum.
The range of this species is not a very wide one, being confined to the Himalayas from the
Sutlej valley to the Dafla Hills. There are examples in the British Museum obtained by Captain
Stackhouse. Pinwill near Simla, and in the Vienna Museum: by Stoliczka (Pelzeln, Ibis, 1868,
p. 313), while it has been recorded from Másuri (Hutton, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,
xvii. part ii. p. 682), and Hodgson obtained it in Nepal. It is said to be common in Sikkim (Bulger,
IbisH869, p. 162) and at Darjiling (Blyth, Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum of the Asiatic
Society, p. 160). Pemberton met with it in Bhutan (Horsfield & Moore, Birds in the Museum of the
Hon. East-India Company, i. p. 192), and an example has been procured on the Dafla Hills Assam,
which appears to be the eastern limit of its range (Godwin-Austen, Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, xlv. part ii. 1876, p. 72).
This Ground-Thrush has been very fortunate in the name bestowed upon it by Vigors. So far
as is known, it ascends the mountains up to 10,000 feet, a greater elevation than that attained hy any
other Ground-Thrush, so high, indeed, that its nest and eggs have not yet been found. It is not an
uncommon bird in collections ; but most of the. skins have been brought down from the mountain-
forests by native collectors, and I cannot find a single published record of its habits. Its migrations
appear to ,be very limited, and it does not seem to have wandered far enough down the hills, even in
the cold season, to have come under the personal observation of many ornithologists.
Fortunately, however, this bird was met with at Daqeeling, from 6000 to 7000 feet above the
level of the sea, by Colonel Tickell, whose manuscript work in the library of the Zoological Society of
London has been already referred to. Colonel Tickell describes it as skulking under bushes, but