GEOCICHLA. 



235 



tipped with wliite. Of two adult males from Tasmania, one has the outermost tail feather only 

 tipped with white, and the other the two outermost feathers. The wing measurements of these 

 two birds vary from 5-2 to 5-5 inches, and their bills from 0-95 to 0-98 inches, and agree in 

 size with others obtained at Cambewarra, New South Wales. By taking a Tasmanian bird 

 and comparing with it the extreme type, or a lighter coloured bird from South-eastern Australia, 

 one could easily recognise two species, but on examining a large series of continental examples, 

 it will be found that they are extremely variable in size and colour, and that both races are 

 found in Australia. 



The range of the ^lountain Thrush extends throughout Eastern New South Wales, 

 Victoria, the south-eastern portion of South .\ustralia, some of the larger Islands of l>ass 

 Strait, and nearly the whole of Tasmania. I first met with this species in Victoria, in the 

 tea-tree scrubs between Cheltenham and Frankston, and also near Oakleigh, breeding in the 

 early winter months. Before the undergrowth was cleared at Childers in the Strzelecki 

 Ranges, it was unusually plentiful in August, and was sometimes seen congregated in small 



flocks, and from this habit it was 

 first pointed out to me as a "Scrub 

 Ouail." As in Gould's time it still 

 frequents the neighbourhood of 

 Sydney, and may be occasionally 

 met with in the swampy under- 

 growth between Manly and New- 

 port. I have observed it. too, at 

 Roseville, and throughout the south 

 coastal districts and contiguous 

 mountain ranges, and inland on 

 the western slopes of the Blue 

 Mountains. Dr. A. M. Morgan and 

 Mr. A. Zietz both write me that it 

 is very rare in South Australia, 

 although it occurs in the hills near 

 Adelaide. One specimen was shot at Mount Barker; and another, forwarded to me for 

 examination bv the Trustees of the South Australian Museum, Mr. Zietz informs me, was 

 killed through flying against a wire fence. 



Although it frequents alike the scrubs and flats near the coast, as well as the humid ranges 

 inland, I have retained Gould's vernacular name of " Mountain Thrush," a literal translation of 

 his generic name Oirocimia, in order to distinguish these birds from the members of the genus 

 Cim-losoiim, which he has termed Ground Thrushes, although the latter are in no way related to 

 the sub-family Ttirdiiuv. 



The food of the Mountain Thrush is procured on the ground among fallen leaves, debris, 

 and moss-covered logs, and consists principally of insects of various kinds, worms, land 

 crustaceans, and molluscs. 



The only notes I have heard this species utter, which were subdued but nevertheless shrill, 

 resembled the noise produced by the revolutions of an engineer's ratchet-drill while boring a 

 metal plate. 



The nest is a round open cup-shaped structure, and is usually formed of fine strips of bark, 

 lined inside with dried grasses or wiry rootlets, the whole exterior and rim, which is thick 

 rounded, being coated with green moss. Others I have seen constructed outwardly entirely of 

 tea-tree bark and dead leaves, and the exposed portion of two nests decorated with pieces of 

 pale green and white lichen, like some nests of Eopsaltria austraUs, The nests, too, vary in size, 



MOUNTAIN THRUSH. 



