326 TIMELIID^. 



breast dull ashy-grey ; flanks hroivn ; under tail-coverts tvhite, brown on the outer iceb except at the 

 tip, and having a Imigitudinal streak of black next the shaft. Total length OS inches, iving J/.'!, tail 

 4-1, bill 07, tarsus 12. 



Adult female — Duller in plumage than the male, the feathers of the lower back and rump 

 brown, indistinctly margined with chestnut; upper wing-coverts brown tipped with white; lores and 

 feathers below the eye ashy-brown : chin and centre of the throat dull ashy-grey, with whitish mottlings 

 to most of the feathers ; fore-neck dull ashy-grey. Total length. ',) inches, wing SS, tail 3'S, bill 0-65, 

 tarsus 1'2. 



Distribution. — Western New South Wales, Western \'ictoria, South AustraHa, Western 

 AustraHa, North-western Australia. 



/"I^Ml-^ Chestnut-backed Ground Thrush is widely distributed over the southern half of the 

 -L Australian continent. Gould procured the types in the belts of the Murray River 

 in South Australia, and I have examined specimens and eggs that were obtained in the 

 Wimmera District, in North-western Victoria. There is a skin of a semi-adult male in the 

 Australian Museum, procured by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett at Mossgiel, Western New South 

 Wales, who remarked in his MS. notes: — "This species is frequently met with in the timbered 

 country to the north of Mossgiel, but is never found on the plains, or the clumps of timber, or 

 the sandhills scattered over them." Mr. G. .\. Keartland secured specimens while a member of 

 the Calvert Exploring Expedition, in Western .Vustralia, about forty miles south of Separation 

 Well, but they were abandoned later on, with the remainder of the first collection, at Johanna 

 Springs. Mr. George Masters obtained a series of adults and young at Mongup, Salt River, 

 in January, 1869; and in the same State an adult male was obtained in the \'ictoria Desert, by 

 the Elder Exploring Expedition. 



Regarding this species, Mr. Keartland writes me: — "The Chestnut-backed Ground Thrush 

 is a rather shy bird, and although it passes much of its time on the ground, and generally seeks 

 shelter under a bush, it will also fly on to the branch of a neighbouring tree. In North-western 

 Australia several were observed feeding on the ground in open forest country. When one was 

 shot, the remainder flew into the trees close by." 



Erom the South Australian Museum, Mr. A. /ietz, tlie Assistant-Director, writes me: — 

 "Cindosoma castanonotitm does not seem to occur in the neighbourhood of Adelaide. I have 

 seen one specimen from Parallana, in the Flinders Range, procured by Mr. R. M. Hawker; 

 and you will find amongst our Museum specimens which I send you for examination, a nearly 

 adult male from Leigh Creek, which is three hundred and seventy-four miles north of .\delaide. 

 This is about the same latitude as Callabonna Creek, where I have also seen the bird myself. 

 I do not remember that we ever had a fresh shot specimen at the Museum." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan informs me that he met with these birds at Mount Gunson, about one 

 hundred miles to the north-west of Port .Augusta, in August, 1900. They were very shy, and 

 closely resembled in habits Cindosoma pundatum. Their note is a feeble chirrup. He did not 

 find any of their nests. Again, in company with Dr. A. Chenery, in August, 1902, during a 

 trip made from Port .\ugusta to the Gawler Ranges, this species was met with, and Dr. Morgan 

 sends me the following note: — "Cindosoma castanoiiim does not seem to be numerous, but is a 

 shy bird and may have been overlooked. They were in mulga scrub at Wippipipee, and in 

 mallee at Donal's Plain. They run well, do not hop; we only saw one fly which had been 

 shot at and missed; it then only flew a short distance." 



Mr. W. D. Campbell, of the Geological Survey, found a nest and two eggs of this species 

 at Menzies, Western Australia, which he forwarded with the nesting-material to the Trustees of 

 the Australian Museum, with the following note: — "This nest I found early in .\ugust, 1898, 

 being merely a hollow in the red-chocolate soil from diorite rocks, and loosely lined with the 



