164 Mr. H. Seebohm on the 



XVI. Remarks on the Thrushes of the ^Ethiopian Region. 

 By HENRY SEEBOHM, F.Z.S. 



THE Thrushes of the ^Ethiopian Region all belong to the genera 

 Geocichla and Turdus. Of the former genus seven species 

 are known ; and of the latter twelve have been described from 

 Africa. Of the former genus we have two types, one with the 

 breast and flanks spotted, and the other without spots on the 

 underparts. Geocichla guttata is probably the least changed 

 Ground-Thrush in Africa. It inhabits the forests of Natal. 

 Its nearest relations appear to be G. lit sit sir up a, distributed 

 throughout South Africa, and a northern form of this species 

 inhabiting the highlands of Abyssinia, G.simensis, which differs 

 from its southern ally only in being more rufous, a difference 

 probably caused by living in a damper climate. The two 

 last-mentioned species are somewhat more advanced than 

 G. guttata, but are still more nearly allied to Geocichla than 

 to Turdus. These three species appear to be the least changed 

 descendants of the ancestors of the palaBarctic Thrushes. Of 

 the other type of Ethiopian Ground-Thrushes, with no spots 

 on the underparts, four very nearly allied species are known 

 G. princei from the Gold Coast, G. crossleyi from the Came- 

 roons, G. piaggii from the Uganda country, near the sup- 

 posed sources of the Nile, and G. gurneyi from the Trans- 

 vaal and Natal. These species are probably the least changed 

 descendants of the ancestors of the ^Ethiopian species of the 

 genus Turdus, to which Cabanis has applied the subgeneric 

 name of Peliocichla (J. f. O. 1882, p. 318). 



The Peliocichla are so closely allied to the South-American 

 Pianestici that it requires a careful examination to discrimi- 

 nate some of them ; and the name of this group must be 

 regarded as a purely geographical expression, and not in any 

 way denoting the least difference of even subgeneric value. 

 The Peliocichla are divided by Cabanis into twelve species ; 

 but the characters upon which many of these are founded 

 are so slight that modern ornithologists would call them only 

 local races or climatic forms, and some of them have already 

 been described as such. There is very little variation in size, 



