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Mr. Reginald Phillipps,



The female I have never seen. The Catalogue says

“ The female appears to differ from the male in having the

upper back, scapulars, outer webs of secondaries, greater and

lesser wing-coverts, and innermost secondaries suffused with

olive-green.” And Jerdon “ The female differs from the male

only in the colours being less pure.” The following extract

from Mr. Seebolim’s “Thrushes” has been kindly forwarded to

me :—“The female is less bright in colour, the upper parts

having a greenish-brown shade, with yellow edges to the feathers,

while the wings are shaded with green.”


Young in first plumage appear to be unknown.


Jerdon informs us :—“The White-winged (as he calls this

species) Ground-Thrush is peculiar to the jungles of Southern

India, extending as far as Goomsoor on the east coast, and to

Bombay on the west side of India. It is most abundant in the

forests of Malabar and Wynaad, but is not rare in the jungles ot

the Eastern Ghats. It prefers bamboo-jungles, feeds on the

ground, and generally perches low. Its food is chiefly insects,

such as ants, cockroaches, and beetles; but, not unfrequentl5 r ,

also stony fruit. It has rather a sweet song, not often heard,

however. Mr. Ward procured the nest in N. Canara, made of

roots and grass, placed at no great height from the ground ; and

the eggs, three in number, were pale bluish, speckled with

brown.”


The following extract (as above) from Seebohm’s

“Thrushes” is important:—“The White-throated Ground-

Thrush is very distinct from all its allies, and it is difficult to

say to which of them it is most nearly related. It has the head

and neck of G. peroni * joined to the body of G. citrina f, but

there can be little doubt that its affinities are much more w T ith

the latter than with the former species.”


When first received, and for some time afterwards, my two



* The Timor Ground-Thrush, supposed to be confined to the island of Timor.—R. P.


t The Orange-headed Ground-Thrush, which breeds in the Himalayas from

Nepal to Assam, and migrates in the cold season to Central and Southern India and

Ceylon. It seems to be a much more common and better known species than the White-

throated Ground-Thrush.—R. P.



