on the Spotted Ground-bird. 155


in the hopes that his general russet appearance above may save

him from detection, finds the foe right on him, for not until the

last moment will he move, then, and not till then, does his tail

suddenly ‘ go off.’ With such startling quickness is the tail

raised perpendicularly, sprung into a full fan in the face of the

intruder, closed up and let off again, that it is really alarming to

any creature not expecting it; it is like the sudden explosion

of a bomb under one’s feet. The white tips to the tail feathers

moreover give a curious flashing fireworks effect to the whole

performance in the shade of the forest; the body of the bird also

is to a certain extent invisible behind the fan—he endeavours to

hide himself as it were behind his own tail. The suddeuess of

the whole movement is invariably successful, the startled foe

bounding off in one direction as from a venemous snake giving

Cinclosoma an opportunity of scuttling off in another. As a rule,

if the ground be not too open, he runs off straight like a rat.

But I have seen him when taken off his guard, and attacked

unexpectedly and unprepared in the open, run off in a frantic

zigzag course, the speed being so great and the rapid and

frequent changes from the straight line being so abrupt that, not¬

withstanding his short legs and closeness to the ground without

which such a rapid zigzag course would be impossible without an

upset, his body swayed sideways, right and left and left and

right, just like a racing omnibus, a sight often to be seen in

London in olden days.”


The tail of my bird, which was a male, greatly fascinated

me. It consisted of twelve feathers, the four* central very

lightly, the remainder broadly, tipped with white. As a rule

the feathers were kept closed, so that the white tips were in¬

visible and did not betray the bird, the upper surface of the two

central feathers, practically the only ones to be seen from above,

being brown, the remainder blackish. On certain occasions the

tail, fully expanded, would be raised until perpendicular like

that of the Peacock. It was not usual, as might be inferred from

Mr. Peir’s letter, for the bird to expand it whilst feeding. In

my garden it never fed with expanded tail. It expands the tail



* I think four, but the tail of my bird was not quite perfect.—R. P.



