THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
included, Drymodes is apparently closely allied to the present group, whereas 
Pycnoptilus and Hylacola should he transferred with Calamanthus to the neigh- 
bourhood of Sericornis. The exact relationship of Psophodes is quite unknown 
to me, and the Pomatostomus series may be a distant relation to the Cincloso- 
matine birds, but Cinclorhamphus and Maclennania are still difficult to place. 
In the New Guinea forests is a bird, called the Mountain Thrush, which 
appears in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum as Cinclosoma 
ajax , and for which the genus Ajax was proposed a long time ago. It is 
probably truly the New Guinea representative of true Cinclosoma , but should 
be separated as Ajax ajax , as it differs in structure, though showing the 
coloration of the present genus not much altered. Thus it has a longer, 
thinner, more compressed bill, with a more prominent tip ; the rictal 
bristles are so minute and obscure as to suggest their complete absence ; the 
wing is much smaller but has a similar formula and the primaries are strong, 
while the tail is shorter though the feathers are as broad. As a matter of 
fact, this group Ajax appears to have differed less in the mountains of New 
Guinea from the southern Australian typical Cinclosoma than the interior 
desert forms of “ Cinclosoma ” have on the continent of Australia. 
