WHITE'S GROUND-THRUSH. 201 



and South-eastern Siberia and North China. It winters in South Japan, 

 South-west China, and the Philippine Islands, occasionally straying 

 as far west as Sumatra. The limit of its western range in summer is 

 difficult to ascertain, but is possibly confined to the watershed of the 

 Yenesay and the Lena. It was obtained by Gmelin * at Krasnoyarsk ; and 

 on the shores of Lake Baikal Dybowski records it as common at the 

 migration-seasons. 



The haunts of this bird are but little known. It has always been found 

 in well-wooded districts (chiefly mountain- woods) , well-timbered banks of 

 streams, gardens, and wooded plains. The specimens that have occurred 

 in the British Islands have all been taken in similar situations to those of 

 its true eastern home. Mr. R. Tomes describes the capture of the 

 specimen obtained in Gloucestershire ('Ibis,' 1859, p. 379) as follows :^ 

 " I may commence by stating that the village of Welford, five miles west 

 of Stratford-on-Avon, where the specimen was obtained, is situated in a 

 bend of the Avon, and that the soil is a rich alluvium. Its position is 

 highly favourable for the growth of timber and fruit-trees ; and it is well 

 shrouded in orchards and small enclosures, fringed with their hedgerows 

 and ivied elms, affording a favourite haunt for many of the smaller birds, 

 with a good supply of cherries and other fruits in the summer months, 

 and of berries through the autumn and winter seasons. From a cherry- 

 orchard, a few miles down stream, I obtained, a few years since, a specimen 

 of the Rose-coloured Pastor; and Starlings and Thrushes abound. Of 

 insect-feeders there is an equally good supply ; and I have had more than 

 one opportunity of inspecting the nesting of the Lesser Spotted Wood- 

 pecker. 



" In a small grass inclosure immediately adjoining the village, and 

 thickly surrounded .by elms, a friend of mine observed a bird rise from a 

 dry leafy ditch, which, at the first glance, was mistaken for a Woodcock, 

 but soon recognized as one of the Thrush kind. This happened on the 

 6th of January ; and on hearing the account I stimulated further search, 

 but without effect until the 23rd of that month, when the bird was again 

 flushed from the same inclosure, and, as before, from the bottom of a dry 

 ditch amongst dead leaves. Again on the 26th it rose from the same 

 ditch, and within a few yards of the same spot. On each occasion it was 

 busied in turning over the dead leaves, from beneath which it appears to 

 have taken its food. Although Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Missel-Thrushes 

 were abundant and seen at the same time feeding on the ivy and hawthorn- 

 berries, the present bird was always observed to resort only to the trees or 



hedges when disturbed, and then merely as a place of rest, remaining for 

 %' 



* J. G. Gmelin the Siberian traveller, not J. F. Gmelin, the compiler of the 13th 

 edition of Linnaeus. 



