Crown of the head and back of the neck sooty black; back olive-brown; wings dark brown, all the primaries and secondaries crossed in the centre by a dull buff-coloured band; throat and centre of the abdomen white, the latter tinged with buff; feathers of the flanks brownish black, with a broad stripe of dull white down the centre; rump and upper tail-coverts dark grey; under tail-coverts white, crossed by several bands of black, each of which being separated on the stem appear like a double spot; tail greyish brown, crossed by a broad band of black near the tip; bill black; the under mandible horn-colour at the base; feet blackish brown.
The female is precisely the same in colour, with the exception of having a small orange-coloured spot just below the ear-coverts, and by which she is at once distinguished from her mate.
The figures are those of a male and female of the natural size.
ORTHONYX SPINICAUDUS: Temm.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.
ORTHONYX SPINICAUDUS, Temm.
Spine-tailed Orthonyx.
Orthonyx spinicaudus, Temm. Pl. Col., 428 male, 429 female.—Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 315.—Swains. Class, of Birds, p. 321.
—— Temminckii, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 294.
—— maculatus, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 186.
The Spine-tailed Orthonyx is very local in its habitat, being entirely confined, so far as I have been enabled to ascertain, to the brushes which skirt the southern and eastern coasts of Australia, such as occur at Illawarra, and in the neighbourhood of the rivers Manning, Clarence and MacLeay. It is usually found in the most retired situations running over the prostrate logs of trees, large moss-covered stones, &c.; further than this, nothing is known of its habits and economy. I ascertained by an examination of the stomach that the food consists of insects, principally of the order Coleoptera, and that the white throat distinguishes the male and the rufous throat the female. A knowledge of the situation and form of its nest and the number and colour of its eggs would probably afford some clue to its real affinities; at present I do not know to which group it truly pertains, and I very much regret that circumstances did not admit of my settling this point by a further observation of the bird in a state of nature: as it is very solitary in its habits it is seldom seen, and it would consequently require many months’ residence to become tolerably acquainted with it, and to acquire a knowledge of these desirable facts.