132 Mr. C. Ingram — Ornithological 



was frequently able to give me very valuable information. 

 I also wish to express my thanks to Dr. Ijima, of the Tokio 

 University, and to the members of the British Legation for 

 the kind way they assisted me in procuring my collector's 

 permit. 



II, Field-notes on the Birds observed. 



1. Geocichla varia (Pall.). White's Ground-Thrush. 

 Geocichla varia Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. p. 43 ; Ingram, 

 Bull. B. O. C. vol. xxi. p. 18. 

 Jap. : Toratsugu. 



(Eggs, PI. IV. figs. 2, 3.) 

 White's Thrush was only met with in a wild state on the 

 slopes of Fujiyama, but a single individual was seen in a cage 

 at Kioto, near which town it had apparently been trapped. 

 During the breeding-season this species seems to remain 

 exclusively in the deep parts of the forest, where, being 

 thinly distributed and of a very shy disposition, it is ex- 

 tremely difficult to observe. This perhaps explains the fact 

 that hitherto little or nothing has been known of its habits. 

 The eggs attributed to this bird by Seebohm (Eggs of Brit. 

 B. pi. 50. fig. 1) and Newton (P. Z. S. 1897, p. 892) are so 

 different from any of those in my series that it is highly 

 probable that they belong to some other species. With 

 regard to the first case, two of the original eggs (taken by 

 Swinhoe from an unidentified nest near Ningpo, China) are 

 now in the British Museum, where I have been permitted to 

 examine them. His often-quoted description of the nest is 

 also at variance with my own experience in Japan, On 

 the other hand, the nest procured by one of Mr. Owston's 

 native collectors and now exhibited in the Bird-Gallery of 

 the Natural History Museum agrees closely with those 

 taken by me, and is doubtless authentic. 



I was informed by the Japanese that this Thrush only 

 sings when the weather is cloudy and overcast and that its 

 song is very melancholy in tone. But, on the whole, it must 

 be an extremely silent bird, for I did not once hear it utter a 

 note, although, for nearly three weeks, I was daily collecting 



