> I have recently started to use "Merlin" as a recording tool. At the
> weekend saw my first "lunulata" since buying the Program - intrigued
> to see that when I went to enter "Scaly or Whites" it showed this as
> Z. dauma. It has Z. lunulata as "Olive-tailed/Bassian" and Z. heinei
> (as expected) as "Russet-tailed"
>
> Can someone enlighten me as to Z. dauma - where it is found etc????
>
>
Now you've opened a can of worms! Briefly, Zoothera dauma is found from
Europe, through India & China and the Sundas right across to Lombok and the
Maluku. In these areas it is variously known as White's Thrush, Scaly
Thrush, Golden Ground Thrush and so on. The taxonomy of the complex is
debated by a number of authorities. Many, for instance, lump this and the
Amami Thrush (Japan) and the Fawn-breasted Thrush (Tanimbar). According to
Christidis & Boles' tome Ford separated Z. dauma in Australia into Z.
lunulata and Z. heinei in 1983 along with Z. papuensis in New Guinea. And
this is how Christidis & Boles have chosen to treat the complex. Of course
the controversy continues.................
I believe someone in England plans to publish a monograph on the Zoothera
thrushes in the near future.
(refs: The Taxonomy of Species of Australia & its Territories- Christidis &
Boles 1994; An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of the Oeintal Region -
Inskipp, Lindsay & Duckworth 1996)
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