328 TIMELIID^. 



/Tf^HIS species was discovered by Captain Charles Sturt in North-western New South 

 -L Wales, in 1845, who writes as follows in his "Narrative of an Expedition into 

 Central Australia"*: — "This third species of Cinclosoma appeared at the Depot in Lat. 29-r 

 Long. 142° during the winter months in considerable numbers, and a ,i,'ood many specimens 

 were procured." 



Three examples of the Cinnamon-coloured Ground-Thrush were obtained by the members 

 of the Horn Scientific Expedition in Central Australia in 1894, and were subsei]uently recei\'ed 

 by me when the collection was sent for examination. From the South Australian Museum I 

 have also received on loan an adult and an immature male procured at Mount Burrell, to the 

 north of the Macdonnell Ranges in Central Australia. 



Mr. (}. A. Keartland has kindly favoured me with the following notes: — "Cinclosoma 

 cinnamomcnm is a lover of the most and stony country, where their colour harmonises so 

 closely with their surroundings that they are not easily seen. During the early morning they 

 roam about the open land in search of food, but as the sun grows hot they seek the shelter of 

 low dense bushes, beneath whose shade they pass the day. If disturbed they immediately fly 

 to another bush, but I have never seen them perch. During the journey of the Calvert 

 Exploring Expedition m Western Australia, I took my first clutch of these eggs under rather 

 peculiar circumstances. I was staying behind collecting, when Mr. C. F. Wells called out tiiat 

 he had discovered a nest of this Ground-Thrush, containing two eggs. He offered to mind my 

 camel whilst I waited for the return of the bird. My camel became restive, and Mr. Wells 

 called me to 'come on.' I secured the eggs; but the nest, which was simply a few acacia 

 leaves placed in a slight depression under a low bush, fell to pieces on being lifted. I wrapped 

 one egg in my handkerchief, and had placed it in the quart-pot on my saddle, when 'Warrior' 

 (the camel) tried to get away. I mounted with the egg in one hand, my gun in the other, and 

 the reins in my teeth. The camel bolted after the caravan, which was about a mile away, 

 on the opposite side of a boggy clay-pan. Instead of following the track, he tried a short cut, 

 with the result that he floundered through the mud and nearly lost his rider, but on nearing 

 the team he became steady, and the eggs were safely packed. Several other clutches were 

 afterwards found in similar situations. This Ground-Thrush is met with in the driest parts of 

 Central and Western .Australia." 



In forwarding the eggs of this species taken at Erldunda, Central Australia, Mr. C. E. 

 Cowle wrote as follows: — "The nest, an open cup-shaped one, was built at the foot of a low 

 Ercmophila bush, and was formed of a few twigs and dead leaves, and fell to pieces when I 

 attempted to remove it. Another nest, containing young ones, was found at the base of a bush, 

 and close to a dry lake." 



The eggs are oval or elongate-oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and more 

 or less glossy. In ground colour they vary from dull greyish-white and whity-brown to 

 brownish -grey, over which is distributed, in typical specimens, large blotches and longi- 

 tudinal streaks of umber-brovvn, wood-brown, and a few similar underlying markings of dull 

 bluish-grey. Others have the ground colour almost obscured by freckles, irregular-shaped 

 spots and mottlings of different shades of brown, intermingled with a few small ink-like stains 

 appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. The markings on this type resemble those 

 seen in a variety of the egg of Turnix vclox. A set of two, taken by Mr. C. E. Cowle, near 

 Illamurta, Central Australia, in April, i8g8, measures as follows: — Length (A) i-i x o-8i inches; 

 (B) I'l X o'8 inches. Another set of two, taken by the same gentleman at Erldunda, in March, 

 1900, varies somewhat in shape and size, the markings too on one specimen are very much 

 darker than on the other: — Length (A) IT4 x o--j6 inches; (B) i-og x o'8 inches. 



* Vol. ii., App., p. 28 (1849). 



