Order PASSERIFORMES. 
Family CINCLOSOMATIDM. 
SA^IUELA ALISTERI. 
BLACK-BKEASTED GROUND- BIRD. 
(Plate 600.) 
Samuela ALISTERI Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. IX., pt. 5, p. 203, pi. 427, Dec. 15th, 1921; 
Campbell, Emu, Vol. XXI., p. 161 and pi. xxn., 1922. 
Adult fenwle. Top of head, nape and mantle unxber-brown ; upper back similar but some 
of the feathers are rufous on the inner webs ; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts 
and middle tail-feathers burnt sienna, like the sides of the body ; outer tail-feathers 
black tipped with wliite—the wliite increasing in extent towards the outermost; 
scapulars cinnamon-rufous like the outer margins of the flight-quills; lesser and 
median upper wing-coverts black tipped with white, the greater series also black 
margined wdth umber-brown and fringed with white at the tips; bastard wing 
and primarj^-coverts black tipped with wliite; flight-quills dark hair-brown, 
some of the primaries edged with greyish-white on the outer webs; a supraloral 
streak which extends over the eye and along the sides of the crown smoke-white; 
ear-coverts similar to the top of the head but rather darker; lores and feathers 
in front of the eye smoke-white with dark bases; rictal bristles black; cheeks 
and hinder part of face wliite ; chin, tlu'oat and fore-neck grey wnth dark longitudinal 
streaks and more or less white intermixed on the chin, where many of the feathers 
liave black hair-like tips ; breast, abdomen and under tail-coverts cream-white,; 
lesser under wing-coverts white, the greater series grey; under-surface of flight- 
quills silvery-grey ; lower aspect of outer tail-feathers black with wliite tips and the 
middle ones burnt sienna like their upper surface. Bill black, eyes coffee-brown, 
feet lead-grey. Total length 205 mm. ; culmen 13, wing 86, tail 77, tarsus 25. 
Collected at Naretha, West Australia, on the 10th of August, 1921. 
Nest. Situated at the foot of a dead blue-bush, and consisted of a hollow scratched in 
the ground, lined wdth fine dry grasses, and with a rim of coarse herbage on a level 
with the ground. 
Eggs. Clutch three. Oval in shape, ground-colour dull, creamy-white, wdth the least 
perceptible trace of a greenish tinge ; well spotted and blotched all over, chiefly at 
the larger end, with olive-browm and slaty-grey markings; surface of shell very 
smooth and somewhat glossy. Dimensions, 27 mm. by 19. 
Breeding-season. October, 
426 
