GEOCICHLA HEINII (Cab) 
` EAST-AUSTRALIAN GROUND-THRUSH. 
Oreocincla heinii, Cabanis, Mus. Неш. i. p. 6 (1850). 
Oreocincla iodura, Gould, Ann. « Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) ix. p. 401 (1872). 
Turdus iodurus, Newton, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B. i. p. 256 (1872). 
Geocichla heinii, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. р. 157 (1881). 
С. suprà rufescenti-brunnea, nigro lunulata: pileo haud ochraceo variegato: rectricibus externis laté (c. 25 mm.) 
albo terminatis. 
THE present species was described by Professor Cabanis from a specimen in the celebrated private 
collection of Oberamptmann Ferdinand Heine at Halberstadt. Тһе locality was said to be “ Japan," 
but this error was corrected by Cabanis in 1872 (J. f. O. 1872, p. 237), when examples from 
Queensland reached the Berlin Museum. In the same year Gould redescribed the species as 
Oreocincla Фойиға, and the type of the latter species is in the British Museum. 
This Ground-Thrush seems to be confined to Eastern Australia. Dr. E. P. Ramsay gives its 
range as from Cape York to Rockingham Bay and Port Denison, but he does not recognize it as an 
inhabitant of the Wide Bay or Clarence River districts; there is, however, an example іп the 
British Museum from the latter locality. Dr. Ramsay likewise includes it as an inhabitant of South- 
eastern New Guinea, but in this instance I think @. papuensis has been mistaken for б. heinii. 
The East-Australian Ground-Thrush has often been confused with the allied С. lunulata, and 
nothing has been recorded of iis habits. "These are doubtless similar to those of the last-named bird. 
Dr. Ramsay described the eggs of б. heinii from Rockingham Bay іп 1875, under the name of 
G. lunulata; but as Mr. North, in his * Descriptive Catalogue of the Nests and Eggs of Birds found 
breeding in Australia and Tasmania, does not mention the present species, it is evident that he has 
not yet met with authentic eggs. 
Geocichla heinii is a very distinct species, resembling Geocichla papuensis and Geocichla cuneata 
in having the inner web of the outermost rectrices white for an inch or more. It differs from the 
former of these two species in having the pale sub-terminal bars across the body-feathers of the upper 
parts almost obsolete, even on the crown, and from the latter by its smaller bill, shorter tail, more 
rufous upper tail-coverts, longer bastard-primary, and more pointed wing. 
It is one of the smaller species, with a somewhat rounded wing, a long bastard-primary, a rather 
short tail, and a rather large bill Wing 5:2 to 4'7 inches, tail 8:8 to 3:4 inches, culmen 1:25 to 
Г 1 inch, tarsus 1:18 to 1:15 inch. The first primary is longer than the primary-coverts ; the second 
primary is shorter than the fifth, but longer than the sixth ; the tail, which consists of only twelve 
feathers, is less than four-fifths of the length of the wing ; and the outermost rectrices are very little 
shorter than the longest. 
The general colour of the upper parts, especially of the rump and upper tail-coverts, is very 
russet, and even in abraded summer plumage can scarcely be called olive. Тһе black crescentic 
markings on the upper parts are narrower than usual; there is very little buff оп the breast, and the 
Geocichline markings on the inner webs of the quills are white. 
