Length of wing 4*9'to 4’8 inches, tail 3-05 to 2-8 inches, cnlmen 1*15 to T12 inch, tarsus 1*35
to 1*31 in ch ; bastard-primary projecting beyond the primary-coverts, its exposed portion measuring
from 1*1 to 1-0 inch.
Young birds are blacker than the adults, and have linear shaft-streaks or triangular spots of
orange-buff on the feathers of the back, especially distinct on the wing-coverts; the head is also
streaked with linear spots of orange-buff; the fore-neck and chest are also mottled with orange-buff,
the centres of the feathers being of this colour and their margins black. “ Bill dusky or slaty-black;
legs greyish-brown; iris chocolate-brown §j (A. H. Everett).
The front figure on the Plate represents Geocichla marginata, and is drawn life-size from an
example in my collection from Java, obtained from a dealer in 1884.
Temminck’s figure of the type in the Leyden Museum leaves no doubt as to the species intended
to be represented, though the artist has introduced some unnecessary scutellations on the tarsus, and
has omitted the dark margins to the feathers of the upper parts.
GEOCICHLA MARGINATA [Blyth).
L E S S E E . B E O W N GEO T JND -TH E T JSH .
Zoothera marginata, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xxi. p. 141 (1847).
Geoeiehla marginata, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 162 (1881).
G. supr^, olivascenti-brunnea, minimi transfasciata: supercilio pallido nullo.
T his species was first described by Blyth in 1847 from examples obtained in Arakan by the late
Sir A. Fhayxe in 1844. The types are still in the India Museum at Calcutta (cf. W. L. bclater,
Ibis, 1892, p. 81). . , • ' HR
G. marginata is closely allied to G. monticola and G. aniramda, but it also greatly resembles
the female of G. siMrica. Its diagnostic characters are the length of the bastard-primary, w c
extends far beyond the primary-coverts, and the olive-brown colour of the upper surface. .
The range of the present species extends from the Eastern Himalayas south to Tenassenm.
has been found nesting in Sikhim (Oates’s ed. Hume’s Nests & Eggs Ind. B. n. and a fine
series of specimens from this part of the Himalayas and Bhutan is in the Hume Collection. It was
. also obtained by Griffith in the Khasia Hills (Blyth, Ibis, 1872, p. 89), the specimen having been
wrongly recorded as from Afghanistan by Messrs. Horsfield and Moore (Cat. B. Mus. E. 1. Co.
i, p. 1 9 2® Colonel Godwin-Austen met with it in the Western Khasia Hills (I. A. b. Beng.
part 2, 1870, p. 268). Mr. Hume also procured a specimen and saw others on the Limatol
range, and two on the higher ranges o f Eastern Manipur (Stray Feathers, xi. p. 124). Its original
capture in Arakan has been alluded to above, and the species has likewise been found in Karen-nee,
where MajorWardlaw-Eamsay discovered it at a height of from 1500 to 3000 feet (Walden m
Blyth’s B. Burm. p. 100). Mr. Oates states that he never met with this Ground-Thrush m l egu
(Handb B Brit. Burm. i. p. 8), but it was obtained by Davison at Pahpoon and Mount Mooleyit m
Tenasserim, though it was rare there (Hume, Stray Feathers, vi. p. 246); and Colonel Bingham has
(only procured one specimen in the Thoungyeen Valley (Stray Feathers, ix. p. | |7 ) . A specimen
collected by Mouhot in Siam is in the British Museum.
So far as is known this species is a resident throughout its range, or its migrations are confined to
the mountains where it breeds. It frequents low tree-jungle, and appears to be a very shy and silent
bird. Colonel Tickell, in his manuscript work on Indian Ornithology previously mentioned as being
in the library of the Zoological Society of London, states that he met with it on the muddy banks of
a river, where it was busily searching for earthworms. Davison remarks that all the specimens he
obtained were shot on the ground, where they were busy turning over dead leaves. He found on
dissection that their food consisted of insects of various sorts and their larvse, together with small
land-shells. . .
Nests taken in Sikhim by Mandeili and Mr. Gammie at the end of May and the end ot July
were built from 8 to 10 feet from the ground, one of them in the fork of a slender tree and'the other
on a moss-covered leaning stem of a shrub which overhung a small stream in a densely shaded dell.
The nest is described as a compact massive cup, the inside diameter rather more than 3 inches and
the depth rather less than 2 inches. It was composed entirely of green moss felted very closely