QUEENSLAND and NORTHERN TERRITORY 65 



of the nests. This is not a fixed habit as many of 

 the nests are just as usual with birds. The eggs 

 are quite extraordinary, as they are bluish-green 

 with spots of brown. \^cry few of the Australian 

 birds lay bluish eggs; a negligible quantity. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE GROUND THRUSH 



(Oreocincia) 



(Plate 1, Fig. 25) 



This ground bird is a mountain thrush, more or 

 less confined to liberal rainfall. The bird hunts 

 for its food of snails and worms in the tangle of 

 the ground-vegetation, rarely coming to the open- 

 ings. Like the English Thrush it is brown and 

 lunated, and the young are just the same. It is 

 quite unusual for ordinary fledgings to have the 

 feather-image of their parents, as most young are 

 not born in the high stage of development of 

 thrushes. 



The young are born in the late winter, about 

 the time of the Lyre Bird, and before seven-eighths 

 of other species. Their nest is not always of cradle 

 form, being a weighty though lovely structure on 

 a solid trunk of tree. It may be a musk (Olearia), 

 or a tea tree (Leptospermum) ; in Queensland more 

 likely a cedar. 



Some naturalists say we have five species of 

 ground thrushes as shown in map 25. It is sure 

 to say, that D is a race of C. D is darker than C, 



