CINCLOSOMA AJAX.

Orange-sided Ground-Thrush,

Eupetes ajax, Temm. Pl. Col. ii. pl. 573 (1835).—S. Mill. Natuurl. Geschied. Land- en Volkenk. p. 22 (1839-
1844).—Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 208 (1846).—Bp. Consp. i. p. 252 (1850).—Sclater, Proc. Linn. Soc. n.
p. 158 (1858).—Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 191.—Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, pp. 25, 56.—Id. Proc.
Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 434.—Rosenb. Journ. f. Orn. 1864, p. 119.—Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 167 (1865).—
Gray, Handl. B. i. p. 267, no. 3913 (1869).—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. iv. pp. 90, 98 (1879).

Ajax ajax, Less. Compl. Buff., Ois. p. 422 (1838).

Ajax eupetes, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 226.

Ajax typicus, Less. teste Bp.

Eupetes goldiei, Ramsay, Proc. Linn, Soc. N.S. W. iii. p. 303 (1879).—Salvad. Ibis, 1879, p. 324.

Cinclosoma ajax, D’Alb. & Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, xiv. p. 85 (1879).—Sharpe, Pr. Linn. Soc. xiv.
p- 631 (1879).—D’ Albert. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 218.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, xvi. p. 188
(1880).—Id. Orn. Papuasia &c. ii. p. 416 (1881).

 

Ts fine species is a native of New Guinea, where it was discovered nearly fifty years ago by Salomon
Miiller, in Lobo Bay. His specimen remained unique in the Leyden Museum until quite recently, when
Signor D’Albertis procured four males on the Fly River in the southern part of that great island; and I
have recently seen several individuals obtained in the interior of South-eastern New Guinea by Mr. Goldie
and Mr. Charles Hunstein. The original specimen, still existing in the Leyden Museum, was said to be a
female ; and Count Salvadori, who has examined it, also believes that it has been rightly sexed; but he
considers it to be a female in imperfect plumage. I should not hesitate myself to set it down as an
immature male, were it not that in the British Museum there appear to be the adults of both sexes and a
young male. Unfortunately none of the birds from South-eastern New Guinea in the above institution has
been sexed by the collectors; but I fully believe that the birds here figured by me represent the fully adult
male and female; and it will be noticed that the latter has the wing-coverts spotted with white (as in the
Australian-members of the genus), while the male has them totally black. An examination of Temminck’s
plate, which Count Salvadori states to be a poor representation of the specimen, reveals the fact that in
the bird at Leyden the wing-coverts are likewise black. In my collection a bird believed by Mr. Bowdler
Sharpe to be the immature male resembles the old female, but has the throat of a dull brown; and this
question of the plumage of Cinclosoma qax must be left until some carefully identified specimens reach us
from New Guinea.

Nothing is known of the habits of this Cinclosoma ; but Mr. Kendal Broadbent marked one of his
specimens as a new species of “ Mountain-Thrush.” Mr. Sharpe has very kindly sent me a description of
an adult pair of birds in the national collection :—

Adult. male.—General colour above dark earthy brown, the bead a little lighter than the back; wing-
coverts black, excepting the inner greater coverts, which are like the back; primary-coverts black, the
inner ones browner ; quills dusky, externally like the back, the primaries less strongly marked on the outer
web; upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers rather more olive-brown than the back, with mdistinct
wavy bars under certain lights; remainder of the tail-feathers black, those near the centre of the tail washed
with olive-brown near the base, the three outer feathers on each side tipped with white ; lores, eyebrow,
feathers below the eye, and ear-coverts black, extending down the sides of the neck, getting narrower as
it joins the black throat and encloses a large white patch, which occupies the entire cheeks, widening out

behind; throat and chest glossy black ; centre of breast and abdomen white bordered with a narrow line of

black down each side, the feathers forming this being black on the inner web, white on the outer;
sides of breast and flanks orange-rufous, browner on the lower flanks and sides of vent; thighs
whitish, ashy-brown behind; under tail-coverts white, the lateral ones varied with black outer webs;
under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the edge of the wing black, the inner greater coverts also tipped
with black ; lower greater coverts ashy like the quills below, which are lighter grey along the edge of the
inner web; “ bill black; feet whitish; iris yellow” (D’ dbertis).

Total length 9°3 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 3°9, tail 3°7, tarsus 1°3.

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