GEOCICHLA GURNEYI (Нат). 
GURNEY’S GROUND-THRUSH. 
Turdus gurneyi, Hartlaub, Ibis, 1864, p. 350, pl. ix. 
Geocichla gurneyi, Seebohm, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 170 (1881). 
С. tectricibus alarum mediis et majoribus albo terminatis : supercilio pallido vix evidente: fronte atque pileo 
olivascenti-brunneis, dorso concoloribus: pectore castaneo, immaculato. 
Gurvey’s GROUND-THRUSH was first discovered by that veteran ornithologist, Thomas Ayres, who 
procured a single male bird in a precipitous range of hills about six miles from Pietermaritzburg in 
Natal. Тһе same collector obtained a second specimen in 1875, in the Macamac district of the 
Eastern Transvaal. This was also a male bird, and is now in the British Museum. 
These two examples were the only ones known till Mr. Alexander Whyte, who has done so 
much to increase our knowledge of the avifauna of British Central Africa, under the auspices of 
Sir Harry Johnston, rediscovered the species on Mount Zomba in Nyasaland, and the same 
naturalist found it on the Milanji Highlands at 6000 feet (Shelley, Ibis, 1893, p. 13, 1894, p. 9). 
А female bird was also obtained by Mr. Whyte at Fort Lister, a station at the extreme north-east 
end of the Milanji range at an elevation of 3300 feet (Whyte, Ibis, 1894, pp. 463, 468). 
From the above records, the range of the species, so far as is known at present, extends from 
about 15" S. lat. to nearly 30° S. lat. Тһе supposed occurrence of С. gurneyi in North-east Africa 
(Heuglin, Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 384) doubtless refers бо ©. piaggia. 
Nothing has as yet been recorded concerning the habits or nidification of this species. 
Gurney's Ground-Thrush is very easily diagnosed from the other Ground-Thrushes which, like 
it, have white terminal spots to the median and greater wing-coverts. Хо other species of this little 
group combines the character of the unspotted underparts with the crown, forehead, and ear-coverts 
dark olive-brown. 
The adult male and female may be described as follows :— 
General colour of the upper parts olive-brown, slightly darker on the crown and shading into 
russet-brown on the rump and upper tail-coverts; lores chestnut; eye-stripe obsolete; lesser wing- 
coverts russet-brown ; greater and median wing-coverts nearly black, with large white terminal fan- 
shaped spots; primary-coverts brown, with a pale olive-brown streak on the outer web; tertials 
russet-brown ; secondaries and primaries brown, margined with russet-brown on the outer webs; tail 
feathers russet-brown, the outer pair obscurely tipped with white; ear-coverts dark olive-brown; 
underparts orange-chestnut, shading rather suddenly into white on the belly, thighs, and under tail- 
coverts, the longest of which are obscurely margined with brown; axillaries dark olive-brown, with 
white bases; lower primary-coverts brown; lower secondary-coverts white, with dark brown 
bases. 
Geocichline markings on the inner webs of the quills white; bill dark brown; second primary 
intermediate in length between the eighth and ninth; legs, feet, and claws flesh-colour; outer tail- 
feathers 0:25 inch shorter than the longest. 
