GEOCICHLA ANDAMANENSIS, Walden. 
ANDAMAN GROUND-THRUSH. 
Geocichla albogularis (nec Blyth), Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 138. 
Geocichla andamanensis, Walden, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) xiv. p. 156 (1874); Seebohm, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 175 (1881). 
G. pileo brunnescenti-castaneo : gulá et pectore aurantiacis: tectricibus alarum claré schistaceis, minimé albo 
terminatis : alis brevioribus. 
THE present species was first sent from the Andaman Islands in 1857 by Dr. von Liebig; and, 
on account of the absence of white tips to the median wing-coverts, was considered by Blyth to be 
the same as the Malayan 6. innotata (7. A. S. Beng. xxvii. p. 270), an opinion still maintained by 
him in 1863 (App. to Mouat's Andaman Islands, p. 360). Beavan in 1867 regarded the two species 
as identical (Ibis, 1867, p. 325), as did also Valentine Dall in 1873 (Stray Feathers, i. p. 69). 
In the following year the validity of the species was the subject of much controversy. Two 
distinguished ornithologists independently arrived at the conclusion that the Andaman bird was 
distinct from the Malay species, but they both failed to separate it from the Nicobar bird and recorded 
it as Geocichla albogularis (Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 158; and Hume, Stray Feathers, 1874, p. 221). 
When Lord Walden wrote his paper for the ‘ Ibis,’ he had not seen examples of the Nicobar bird; 
but before the year was out he obtained a series of skins from these islands and at once recognized 
their distinctness from the Andaman species, which he named Geocichla andamanensis. 
The status of the species was further challenged by Hume, who certainly had a large series upon 
which to form an opinion. He stated that some Andaman examples had as much white on the 
throat as some of the Nicobar examples (Stray Feathers, 1876, p. 289); and when I ventured to 
point out that in the series in the British Museum and in the Tweeddale Collection the two species 
were easily distinguishable (Stray Feathers, 1880, p. 99), the assertion was made that in twenty per 
cent. of the examples from these two groups of islands it was impossible to tell by the colour of the 
throat from which group they came (Hume, Stray Feathers, 1880, p. 103). Thanks to the splendid 
generosity of Mr. Hume, his magnificent collection of birds has been added to the treasures in the 
British Museum, and I am confirmed in my opinion that there is no evidence that the two forms 
intergrade, an opinion in which I am supported by the latest authority on Indian birds (Oates, Fauna 
of British India, Birds, ii. p. 142). 
The Andaman Ground-Thrush differs from all the other species of its sub-generic group, except 
Geocichla innotata, in combining the two characters—throat orange-chestnut and median wing- 
coverts uniform slaty grey (without white tips). It differs from Geocichla innotata in being smaller 
(wing 3:8 to 4:2 inches, instead of 4:5 to 4:8 inches), in having a little white on the chin, in being of 
a slightly darker chestnut on the flanks, while the orange-chestnut on the crown is slightly suffused 
with olive. The two species are very closely allied, but, until more evidence is produced that they 
intergrade, they must be regarded as specifically distinct. There is an example in the British 
Museum which is somewhat intermediate between the two, having little or no olive on the crown 
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