i6o



Mr. W. H. St. Quintin,



Five other species of Cinclosoma are known :—


(1) —The Chestnut-backed Ground-bird, C. castanonotum ; New

South Wales, Victoria, South, West, and North-west Australia ;

upper back brown like the head, scapulars and lower back

maroon.


(2) —The Cinnamon-coloured Ground-bird, C. cinnamomeum\ a

dweller chiefly of the great interior; considerably smaller than

either the Spotted or the Chestnut-back species, and may be

easily recognised by the cinnamon colouring of the greater

portion of its plumage. Fore neck white, separating the black

throat from the black chest.


(3) —The Chestnut-breasted Ground-bird, C. castanothorax-, South

Queensland and towards interior provinces. Back entirely con-

colorous. Fore neck and chest chestnut.


(4) —Northern or Black-vented Ground-bird, C. marginatum;

North-west Australia ; fore neck and chest cinnamon.


(5) — Cinclosoma ajax ; Western New Guinea; male —wing-coverts

black without spots, sides of body orange ; female —throat white,

the lower throat, fore neck, and chest orange ; young male —

throat dusky brown, fore neck and chest orange.


The above from Campbell and the Museum Catalogue.



THE AUSTRALIAN BRUSH-TURKEY.


Catheturus lathami.


By W. H. St. Quintin, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


Surely amongst all the wonders of the ornithological

world there is nothing more strange than the family of the

Megapodiidae, in which we find the parental instinct, so con¬

spicuously strong in the Avian Order generally, reduced to

vanishing point.


When we consider that the Megapodes and Brush-Turkeys

are content to leave their eggs to the sun-warmed sand, or to

the fermenting mass of vegetable debris, we are reminded of

their Reptilian ancestors of long past geological ages, and one

is almost tempted to suggest that these strange habits, depart-



