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jungle, being especially fond of damp shady spots where the moss hangs in festoons from the bushes, 
and where the ground is soft and оолу, in fact “ Woodcock ground,” where it feeds on slugs and small 
leeches. In the evening it is not so shy, and may be seen hopping on unfrequented paths, but 
uttering no note during the cold season except a chuck. Its flight is swift, low, and short, and it 
generally alights suddenly, by flying up and resting upon some bare bough. 
The habits of this species are elsewhere described as resembling those of its allies. It is 
generally found feeding on the ground in small parties, on a rather bare spot on the very summit of 
some hill, and flying into the brushwood when disturbed. It feeds on insects and berries (Jerdon, 
Birds of India, i. p. 533). | 
The nest of this species, brought from Native Sikhim about the end of June, is described as 
most lovely. It is а deep, large, massive cup (externally 53 inches wide by 34 inches high, internally 
34 inches wide by 2 inches deep), of firmly felted green moss, with a thin lining of very fine black 
fern- and moss-roots. ‘The eggs vary from 1:42 to 1:27 inch in length, and from "9 to :84 inch in 
breadth. The ground-colour is nearly dead white, speckled, spotted, and blotched with blood-red 
and brown-red, nearly confluent at the large end. Тһе underlying spots are pale purple (Oates's 
edition of Hume's * Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,' ii. p. 108). 
The adult male and female may be' described as follows :—General colour of the upper parts 
russet-brown ; lores buff; eye-stripe obsolete; lesser wing-coverts russet-brown ; median and greater 
wing-coverts russet-brown ; primary-coverts russet-brown, shading into dark brown on the inner webs 
and at the tips; tertials russet-brown ; secondaries and primaries brown, margined with russet-brown 
on the outer webs; tail with the four central feathers russet-brown, the three next on each side dark 
brown, the external pair paler, with a deep white terminal wedge; some white at the tips of the two 
next feathers ; ear-coverts black with buff centres; underparts white, shading into buff on the breast 
and flanks, almost unspotted on the chin and throat, with fan-shaped terminal black spots on the 
cheeks and upper breast, and crescent-shaped terminal black margins to the feathers on the rest of 
the underparts; rather obscure black malar stripes; under tail-coverts white with obscure brown 
edges; axillaries black with white bases; lower primary-coverts dark brown; lower secondary-coverts 
white with black bases. 
Geocichline markings on inner webs of quills buff. 
Bill dark brown, paler at the base of the under mandible; rictal bristles much developed; 
second primary intermediate in length between the fifth and sixth; tarsi, feet, and claws brownish 
yellow ; outer tail-feathers "15 inch shorter than the longest. 
Length of wing 5:6 to 5:1 inches, tail 4:1 to 3:7 inches, culmen 11 to "99 inch, tarsus 1:45 to 
1:25 inch, bastard-primary slightly shorter than the primary-coverts, the exposed portion measuring 
1:0 to “9 inch. 
Young in first plumage have pale shaft-lines and obscure dark margins to the feathers of the 
crown and back, and obscure buff tips to the median and greater wing-coverts. The pale tips to 
the wing-coverts are seldom quite lost in birds of the year. 
Naumann figures a typical example as the male, and the Eastern race as the female of Turdus 
mollissimus (Naturgeschichte der Vógel Deutschlands, xiii. p. 255, pl. 353), on the ground that it 
may some day turn up in Europe! He discusses the difference between the two forms, and suggests 
that it must be one of sex. 
The Eastern race was fairly well figured, four-sevenths of life-size, in 1877 (David et Oustalet, 
Oiseaux de la Chine, pl. 40). 
The large figure in the foreground of the Plate represents the type of Geocichla dixoni, the size 
oflife. This example was obtained, in February 1873, by one of Mandelli's collectors in Sikhim. 
The smaller figure in the distance represents the typical form of Geocichla mollissima, and is drawn 
from one of Mandelli's Darjeeling skins. Both examples are in my collection. 
