GEOCICHLA SCHISTACEA.
GEOCICHLA SCHISTACEA, Meyer.
W H IT E -B A R E D G R O U N D -T H R U SH .
Geocichla schistacea, Meyer, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. i. p. 211, Taf. viii. (1884). '
G. axillaribus omnino albis: supracaudalibus uropygio concoloribus: superciliis et regione paroticá albis.
T he W hite-eaeed G round-Thrush was discovered in 1884 on the Island of Timor-Laut by Mr. Riedel,
who sent examples to Dr. A. B. Meyer, the Director of the Royal Zoological Museum at Dresden, by
whom the species was named (¿. c.). The type is in the Dresden Museum.
The White-eared Ground-Thrush appears to be intermediate between G. sibirica and G. wardi,
perhaps most nearly related to the latter. Unfortunately the female is unknown, but probably the
white axillaries, a character only shared by G .'pinícola, are common to both sexes. We may also
assume that the upper tail-coverts, whether they he slaty-grey or brown in the female, will never show
pale tips. I f this assumption be true, the following will be a safe diagnosis for the species:
axillaries entirely white ; upper tail-coverts uniform in colour throughout.
The adult male may be described as follows:—General colour of the upper parts slaty-grey,
shading into black on the forehead; lores black; eye-stripe very conspicuous, broad and white,
reaching from the base of the hill well behind the eye; lesser wing-coverts slaty-grey; median coverts
black, tipped with white on both webs ; greater wing-coverts black, tipped with white, broadest on
the outer webs ; primary-coverts black; quills brown, margined with slaty-grey on the outer webs ;
tail-feathers blackish-brown, the outer pair with a deep terminal wedge of white, the next pair with
a small terminal spot of white; ear-coverts white; cheeks, chin, throat, and upper breast, black;
rest of the underparts white, spotted on the lower breast with black terminal fan-shaped markings,
and suffused with grey on the flanks; axillaries white, with very obscure traces of black on the
terminal half; lower primary-coverts mottled with black; lower secondary-coverts white, with black
bases.G
eocichline markings on inner webs of quills, white.
Bill black; second primary about equal in length to the seventh ; legs and feet yellowish; outer
tail-feathers 0*15 inch shorter than the longest.
Length of wing 4'0 to 3'6 inches, tail 2*75 to 2*56 inches, culmen 0*94 to 0*86 inch, tarsus
1*06 to 0*98 inch; bastard-primary extending 0*3 inch beyond the primary-coverts, its exposed portion
measuring 0‘95 inch.
The Plate represents one of the co-t,types in my collection and is drawn life-sized. The type in
the Dresden Museum has been figured, also of the size of life, by Dr, Meyer (Zeitschr. i. Taf. viii.).
It is also well figured by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe in Gould’s ‘ Birds of New Guinea ’ (vol. iii. pi. i.).
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