GEOCICHLA MACRORHYNCHA (Gould). 
TASMANIAN GROUND-THRUSH. 
Oreocincla macrorhyncha, Gould, P. 7. S. 1837, p. 145. 
Turdus macrorhynchus, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 218 (1847). 
Oreocincla lunulata (pt.), Gould, Handb. B. Austr. i. p. 439 (1865). 
Geocichla macrorhyncha, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 156 (1881). 
С. suprà rufescenti-brunnea, nigro lunulata : pileo ochraceo variegato : caudá longá, rectricibus externis anguste 
(c. 10 mm.) albo terminatis. 
Тнів Ground-Thrush was described from a specimen in the British Museum said to have come 
from New Zealand. This type specimen was apparently no longer in the collection when I 
described the Thrushes for the ‘Catalogue of Birds’ in 1881. Gould afterwards united the 
species to 6. lunulata, but, in my opinion, they should be kept distinct; at all events on the present 
evidence at our disposal. | 
The Tasmanian Ground-Thrush resembles G. lunulata in the comparative length of the wing 
and tail, but the former bird has ochraceous-brown spots on the crown, nape, and scapulars, and is 
more buff on the breast. Inasmuch as both these characters are signs of immaturity in the sub-genus 
Oreocincla, it would appear at first sight as if the Tasmanian specimens were only the immature 
examples of the South-Australian G. lunulata, as Gould was inclined to consider them. Ав, however, 
all the Tasmanian examples that I have examined agree in having pale spots on the crown, 
nape, and scapulars, it would appear that this character is a distinctive one for the Tasmanian 
bird, which must, for the present at least, be regarded as specifically distinct from its Australian 
ally. I 
Gould describes the Tasmanian Ground-Thrush as being found by him on the slopes of 
Mount Wellington and other similar bold elevations. As in his ‘ Handbook’ he does not 
distinguish between G. macrorhyncha and G. lunulata, the account of the habits given by him in 
the above-mentioned work may have been drawn only from his experiences in Tasmania. 
Dr. Е. P. Ramsay gives the following account of the eggs of the present species :—“ The nest 
and eggs are very much the same as those of G. lunulata, Lath., but are larger; the eggs are three for 
a sitting, of a greenish white, strongly freckled all over, but more numerously at the larger end, with 
rich reddish brown; some confluent markings take a longitudinal direction or run obliquely with the 
long axis of the egg. Ап average specimen measures 1:33 inch in length by 0:95 inch through its 
short diameter.” Mr. А. С. Campbell likewise remarks that the eggs of the Ground-Thrush 
which he took in Tasmania were larger than those which he procured in Victoria, measuring 1:35 
by 0:94 inch. He further adds that this bird breeds so early in Tasmania that he has known eggs 
to be taken in July when the ground was covered with snow. 
б. macrorhyncha is one of the three long-tailed species of the sub-genus Oreocincla in which 
the length of the tailis four-fifths or more the length of the wing. It is very easily distinguished 
from the other two long-tailed species. It agrees with one of them, G. lunulata, in having narrow 
(less than half an inch) white tips to the inner webs of the outermost tail-feathers, but differs from 
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