296 THE BIBDS OF AUSTEALIA 



The Chestnut-breasted Ground Thrush, C. oastanothorax. — Eastern 

 Australia. Head and neck umber; back uniform ehestnut-brown; 

 throat glossy blue-black; fore neck and chest chestnut-red, a black 

 band across the lower chest; breast and abdomen white. Length 8.5 

 inches. 



The Black-vented Ground Thrush, C. marginatum. — North-west Australia. 

 Like the preceding, but the fore neck and chest cinnamon. Length 

 9.5 inches. 



The Pilot Bird. 



Pycnoptilus floccosus. 



South-east Australia. 



The only representative of the genus. Above dark chocolate-brown, 

 more sooty-brown on the head, neck and mantle; throat and breast 

 rufeseent-ochre, mottled with dusky margins to the feathers; breast more 

 ashy, abdomen white, under tail-coverts bright, chestnut. Length 6 inches. 



Lives in secluded gullies, where it passes most of its time upon 

 the ground hopping about the tangled masses of luxuriant 

 vegetation or among the fallen and decaying timber and ferns, 

 in search of insects and seeds of various kinds, which constitute 

 its food, stopping now and again to utter its clear, distinct note 

 which can be heard for a considerable distance. The note 

 strongly resembles the words Guinea-a-week, and the bird is 

 often called by this name locally. Nest dome-shaped with side 

 entrance, built in the thick undergrowth near the ground. Eggs 

 two, slaty or purplish-brown ground colour with a zone of 

 indistinct blackish markings on the thicker end; 1 x .75 inch. 



Genus DrymaoBdus. Scrub-Robins. 



There are three Australian species, and a fourth in New 

 Guinea and the Aru Islands. Birds of recluse habits, seven or 

 eight inches in length, found among open scrub country in stony 

 ground, resorting much to the ground, moving by fits and starts 

 like the European Robin, and with a sharp whistling note. The 

 females are smaller than the males. 



The Scrub-Eohin, D. brunneopygius. — S. Australia and Victoria. Brown 

 above, the wings darker, and the tail more rufous; a white bar on 

 the wing; all the tail feathers, except the two central, tipped with 

 white; a small black spot above and below the eye; below ashy- 

 brown. Length 8 inches. 



