GEOCICHLA SPILOPTERA (Blyth). 
SPOTTED-WINGED GROUND-THRUSH. 
Oreocincla spiloptera, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xvi. p. 142 (1847). 
Turdus spilopterus, Gray, Hand-list B. i. p. 254, no. 8698 (1869). 
Geocichla spiloptera, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 167 (1881). 
G. tectricibus alarum mediis et majoribus albo terminatis: pectore nigro maculato: rectricibus externis albo 
circumscripté apicatis: lineá superciliari vix evidente. 
THE original specimens of this Ground-Thrush were discovered in 1846 or 1847 by Dr. Templeton, 
on one of the mountain-ranges of the Central Province of Ceylon. The species was described by 
Blyth from specimens sent to the Calcutta Museum by Mr. E. L. Layard (cf. Blyth, Cat. B. 
Mus. As. Soc. p. 160), and the types are still preserved in that institution (cf. W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 
1892, p. 81). 
The position usually assigned to this species has been in the genus Oreocincla, in which we find 
it in Mr. Oates's recent work on the Birds of India. In 1881, I referred it to the genus Geocichla, 
and I still consider it to be properly placed among this section of the Ground-Thrushes. 
Colonel Legge has recognized it as a member of the genus Turdus, a conclusion with which I cannot 
agree, despite my admiration for the work done by that excellent naturalist. 
It is to Colonel Legge that we owe our knowledge of the distribution and habits of the present 
species in Ceylon. Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth states that it is found in the mountains of the Central 
Province between 2000 and 5000 feet (Р. 7. 5. 1872, p. 446). Colonel Legge supplements this 
observation by recording its occurrence in the south and west of the island at much lower elevations, 
and he has known it to be procured within a few miles of Colombo (B. Ceylon, p. 452). 
According to the last-named observer, it is “а shy and retiring bird, frequenting damp jungle, 
undergrowth in forests, and bamboo-thickets, not often mounting to any height on trees, but passing 
its time near the ground, about which it hops quietly, picking up pups, coleoptera, and other 
insects ; and when alarmed it runs very quickly through underwood, uttering a weak chirping note. 
The male has a very pretty whistle, ending in a human-like note, which it utters, seated on a low 
branch, for a considerable time at intervals during the day, but chiefly in the morning and evening. 
Both sexes have a weak, almost inaudible *tzsee, which they utter, as the Blackbird does, whilst 
searching for food. It does not often come into the open, but at sunset I have now and then seen it 
in little copses of guava and other small trees which are to be found in the meadows on the banks of 
some of the western streams ; and I once shot one whistling in a clump of the tall bamboo (Bambusa 
thouarsi). Тһе young bird quickly acquires its vocal powers, and whistles as sweetly in the soft-gape 
stage as an adult." 
Colonel Legge was the first to discover the nest and describe the eggs of this species. Не 
found the nest in January 1873 near a stream in some fine forest 15 miles from Trincomalee. It was 
built in the fork of a small sapling about 84 feet from the ground, and is described as resembling that 
of a Blackbird in structure, and as having a loose exterior of small twigs with a lining of grasses. 
The interior was tolerably well finished and rather deep. Тһе eggs were two in number, of a bluish- 
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