CINNAMON GROUND-BIRD. 
operations are in progress, and can be seen within easy distance of the main 
street of Wilnna. All that is necessary is to walk through the bush quietly, 
keeping one’s eyes well ahead. At the first alarm, perhaps, a pair may 
run under a bush, but if the observer stands motionless the female, followed 
by the male, soon comes out again, and both will quietly feed right up 
to one’s feet if reasonable quiet is maintained. . . . Probably its southern 
limit overlaps the northern limit of ( 7 . castanonotum about the latitude of 
Menzies or Leonora. How far east it extends is unknown. Westwards I 
have met with it within 100 miles of the coast, in the latitude of Geraldton ; 
but, despite much search for it on the Pilbarra goldfield, I failed to find 
it there. No doubt it extends much farther north than Wiluna. I have 
little doubt that the specimens of G. castanonotum recorded as shot near 
Separation Well (see Campbell’s Nests and Eggs , p. 256) should have been 
referred to the present species and not to the latter.” 
Under the name Ginclosoma castanothorax Le Souef wrote : “A nest of 
this bird was found by Mr. Herman Lau on 3rd November, 1879, in the Darling 
Downs district in Queensland. He flushed the bird from its nest, which was on 
the ground, but did not secure it. He states that the open nest was loosely 
built of leaves, twigs, and coarse grass, and situated alongside a fallen log by a 
tussock of grass, and the bird sat very close. The eggs are slightly glossy and 
white, freckled with purplish-black and brownish markings, especially on the 
larger end ; the under purple markings are larger than the surface ones, and 
are also more numerous at the larger end. The eggs measure (a) 1.18x0.92, 
(6) 1.14x0.90 inches.” 
The technical history of this species is somewhat complex and begins 
with the fact that Gould described two forms as two distinct species, and 
in this case it was not recognised at an early date that they were only 
geographical representatives of each other. They were maintained as distinct 
mostly on account of their rarity and their isolated geographical habitats. 
When Sharpe wrote up the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum , 
forty years ago, he added another new species, basing it on a poor skin 
which showed slight differences. On the authority of such a writer three 
species were then accepted, but still very few specimens were known. I 
received examples which upon comparison proved to be representatives of 
a very distinct species, but at the same time the relationship of the two later- 
named species was seen. Upon the preparation of my “ Reference List ” I 
relegated Sharpe’s species to subspecific rank and introduced a new subspecies : 
Ginclosoma castaneothorax nea. 
“ Differs from C. castaneothorax marginatum in its much paler coloration above 
and below.” From Day Dawn, West Australia. 
VOL. IX. 
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