GEOCICHLA MACHIKI, Forbes. 
FORBES'S GROUND-THRUSH. 
Geocichla sp., Sclater, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 56. 
Geocichla machiki, Forbes, Р. Z. S. 1883, p. 588. 
С. tectricibus alarum mediis et majoribus albo terminatis: pectore ochrascenti-albo, concolore : hypochondriis 
nigro maculatis. 
ONLY two specimens of Forbes's Ground-Thrush are known at present, and these are in the British 
Museum. One of these is adult and the other immature. 
The species was discovered by Dr. H. O. Forbes, during his celebrated expedition to the Malay 
Archipelago, in the island of Timor Laut in the Tenimber group. Не stayed three months in this 
locality and endured great privations, bravely shared by his wife, but with the result that more 
than twenty new species of birds were discovered, of which Geocichla machiki was not the least 
interesting. 
Dr. Forbes writes :—“ I propose that this new species should bear the name machiki, as a slight 
mark of remembrance of Dr. Julius Machik, of Budapest, Surgeon-Captain in the Dutch army, and 
of appreciation of his extreme kindness and hospitality, and of the very great assistance rendered by 
him to me in Sumatra, and more especially in Amboina to my wife and myself, both before and after 
our return from the Tenimber Islands." 
Nothing has been recorded of the habits or nidification of this species. @. machiki is somewhat 
intermediate between С. peronii of Timor and 6. erythronota of Celebes. It agrees with the former 
in the pale tips to the inner secondaries, as well as in the absence of black on the throat, wings, and 
tail. Like 6. erythronota it has black crescentic markings on the flanks, and it agrees with both 
species in its pale lores and the white patches at the end of the outer pair of tail-feathers. 
Forbes's Ground-Thrush appears to be nearly related to the African species of this section of the 
genus ; on the other hand, the fact of its being the only Ground-Thrush in the Malay Archipelago in 
which the ear-coverts are not crossed by dark bands, may suggest relationship with the females of 
С. sibirica and С. wardi. The somewhat obscure pale eye-stripe might be supposed to be a further 
confirmation of this relationship. In the Tenimber Islands, moreover, there is another Ground- 
Thrush, allied to С. шағ and С. sibirica, of which only males have yet been discovered, and it 
might reasonably be supposed that G. machiki, the type of which is a hen bird, might be the female 
of this 6. schistacea. Іп spite of this seeming probability, it is impossible to adopt this conclusion 
from the material at our command. 6. machiki is larger than G. schistacea, and has the typical 
coloration of the axillaries in this section of the genus, viz. black with white bases, whereas in 
G. schistacea they are white. 
The type specimen of G. machiki appears to be a female in autumn plumage, and may be 
described as follows :— 
General colour of the upper parts olive-brown, shading into slate-colour on the head and into 
chestnut on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; lores white ; eye-stripe pale buff, mottled with brown; 
lesser wing-coverts olive-brown, with more or less obscure pale tips; median wing-coverts nearly 
a 2 
