I? Hi -A- T IE X 2L, 1 1 1. 



GENUS CINCLOSOMA (Vig. and Horsf.) 



IN nearly every part of Australia one of the four members of this genus is found. It does not exist in any 

 other country. 



CINCLOSOMA PUNCTATUM (Vig. and Horsf.) 



SPOTTED GROUND-THRUSH. 



rilHE range of this species is very great, extending, as it does, along the eastern and southern coast 

 J- from Brisbane to South Australia. It is also found over the whole of Tasmania. It is generally 

 found on the summits of rocky gullies, where it seeks its food among the scrub and underbrush. When 

 disturbed it rises with a burring 1 noise, but soon descends again to the ground, when it runs along with 

 great swiftness and hides among the bushes. Its power of flight is very small, and is rarely used, 

 except to cross a gully or to pass from one bush to another. It very seldom perches on branches of 

 trees, but may be often seen running along the fallen trunks, stopping now and again to search for 

 insects. 



The note of this bird is a low and rather musical whistle, several times repeated. 



The flesh makes very good eating, and is often sold in the markets under the name of the 

 Ground-dove. 



The breeding season lasts from October to the end of January. Two and sometimes three 

 eggs are laid in a nest constructed of leaves and strips of bark, and placed on the ground, under the 

 shelter of a large slono or stump. The eggs are white in colour, with numerous blotches of olive-brown 

 distributed over the surface, particularly at the larger end. 



The forehead and chest are light grey ; crown of the head, back and wings, brown, each feather 

 of the back having a stripe of black down the centre ; throat and a band across the chest, black ; wing- 

 coverts, black, each feather tipped with white ; a stripe over the eye, a large mark on the side of the 

 neck, and the abdomen, white ; flanks, yellowish-buff, with a stripe of black down the centre of each 

 feather ; primaries and secondaries, brown, margined with darker colour ; tail-feathers, black, tipped with 

 white ; bill, black ; legs and feet, yellowish-buff. 



The female has the throat greyish-white, and has not the band across the chest. 



Habitats : Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. 



