108 THE USEFUL BIRDS 



SPOTTED BABBLING-THRUSH 



(Spotted Ground-Thrush, Ground-Dove), 



Cinclosoma puuctatiiiii, Latb. 



Sing-klo-so'ma pimkl-d' tnm. 

 Kigklos, a bird; soma, a body; punctatus, dotted. 



CiNCLOSOMA PUNCTATUM, Gould, " Birds of Australia," fol., vol. iv., 



pi. 4. 



Geographical Distribution. — Areas 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 



Key to the Species. — Male — Throat and narrow band across chest 

 steel-black ; forehead and chest ashy-grey ; crown of head 

 black ; rump and inside tail feathers rufous- brown ; shoulders 

 and wing coverts steel-black, each feather with white spot at 

 tip. 



Female — Throat greyish- white instead of black; no black breast- 

 band ; spot on neck rufous instead of white. 



True Babbling-Thrushes are remarkable for their strong, 

 clumsy feet and powerful, rounded wings, and not so much as 

 a whole for their powers of babbling. The Australian members 

 of the group (Crateropodes) are a rather silent set, but they 

 answer exactly to the structural description. 



The Spotted Babbling-Thrush is met with in the damper 

 parts of the south, while the Chestnut-backed is the most 

 numerous in the dry areas, though no one species can be said 

 truly to be common anywhere. A third species, C. cinnamo- 

 meum, Gld., is associated in comparatively small numbers 

 with the latter bird. At all times the bird is shy, and keeps 

 to scrubby timber. 



It performs a similar service to mankind that the Groimd- 

 Lark (Pipit) does on the adjacent open, and the Plover on 

 the common beyond, all feeding upon terrestrial insects, and 

 helping to maintain the balance of nature perfectly. 



To absolutely prohibit bird friends from frequenting the 



