THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface slate-grey, including the top of the 
head, sides of face, sides of neck, hind-neck, back, outer aspect of wings and tail ; 
inner webs of the upper wing-coverts and flight-quills dark brown with buffy- white 
margins to the latter ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts rather paler than 
the upper-back ; tail also slightly paler than the back and inclining to brown with 
obsolete cross-bars ; lores whitish with black hair-like tips to the feathers ; rictal- 
foristles black ; fore-part of cheeks speckled with slate-grey and white ; chin and 
throat greyish-white with dark shafts to the feathers, which terminate in black 
hair-like tips ; breast pale slate-grey with slightly darker shaft-streaks ; abdomen 
and sides of body buff with grey shaft-lines ; vent white ; thighs grey ; under 
tail-coverts fawn-colour ; axillaries and lesser under wing-coverts ash-grey, the 
greater series and inner margins of quills below buff, remainder of quill-lining greyish- 
brown ; lower aspect of tail also greyish-brown with white shafts to the feathers. 
Eyes red-brown, feet lead-grey, bill pale horn with cuknen darker. Total length 
223 mm. ; cuknen 20, wing 119, tail 98, tarsus 31. Figured. Collected at Wilson’s 
Inlet, South-west Australia, on the 2nd of May, 1910. (C. r. carteri.) 
Adult female. General colour of the upper-surface drab-grey, including the crown of 
the head, sides of face, sides of neck, hind-neck, back, and scapulars ; upper tail- 
coverts slate-grey ; outer aspect of wings olive-brown, the central portion of the 
coverts and inner-webs of flight-quills dark brown with buffy-white margins to the 
latter ; tail hair-brown, some of the feathers slightly fringed with slate-grey and 
show traces of obsolete cross-bars ; rictal-bristles black ; lores whitish with black 
hair-like tips to the feathers ; chin and throat greyish-white, with grey shaft-lines 
to the feathers, many of the feathers on the chin have black hair-like tips ; breast, 
sides of body, and thighs slate-grey more or less tinged with buff ; abdomen and 
flanks pale buff ; under tail-coverts fawn-colour ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 
similar but somewhat paler ; inner edges of quills below buff, remainder of quill- 
lining hair-brown ; lower aspect of tail greyish-brown with white shaft-lines. Eyes 
brown, feet slatey ; bill, upper mandible black, lower grey. Total length 250 mm. ; 
cuknen 22, wing 120, tail 100, tarsus 32. Figured. Collected on Mt. Xfle Bille, 
South Australia, on the 3rd of August, 1914, and is C. r. whitei. 
The sexes are very similar. 
Immature. “ Young birds have a distinct rufous eyebrow ; sides of the head, neck and 
all the under-surface fawn-colour ; the feathers on the throat and fore-neck broadly 
streaked with blackish-grey ; the primaries and their coverts, secondaries and 
greater wing-coverts brown, washed with rufous.” (North.) 
Eggs. Vary from two to three for a setting, but three usually. They very closely resemble 
those of Collyriocichla harmonica. A clutch of three is oval in shape, ground- 
colour white, spotted and blotched, more especially at the larger end, with light 
to dark olive-brown, pale slate, and purplish-grey markings. Surface of shell rather 
fine, smooth and glossy. They measure 30 mm. by 20. 
Nest. The usual open cup-shaped structure, chiefly composed of strips of bark, and 
generally placed in the dead stump of a forest tree. 
Breeding season. September to November ; March, April. 
Although Gould separated these Shrike-Thrushes as distinct species 
he nevertheless recognised then* representation and might have agreed 
to their degradation to what we now call subspecies. Thus of this species 
he wrote : “Is about the size of the Colluricincla harmonica , from which 
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