A quail-thrush is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

of the genus ''Cinclosoma'', which contains eight species. Quail-thrushes are in a different family from either

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New Wor ...

s or thrushes, but bear some superficial resemblance to them. The genus is found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

in a variety of habitats ranging from rainforest to deserts. The genus is closely related to the

jewel-babbler The jewel-babblers are the bird genus ''Ptilorrhoa'' in the family Cinclosomatidae. The genus contains four species that are endemic to New Guinea. The genus was once considered to contain the rail-babbler, but that species is now considered to ...

s of New Guinea. Seven species were recognised in 2007. A molecular study published in 2015 by Gaynor Dolman and Leo Joseph resulted in the splitting of the chestnut-backed quail-thrush into the

chestnut quail-thrush The chestnut quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma castanotum'') is a native Australian bird of the family Cinclosomatidae. These scrub birds are endemic to Australia and found in all states - barring Tasmania. They are relatively uncommon and are isolate ...

of eastern Australia and the

copperback quail-thrush The copperback quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma clarum'') is a species of bird in the family Cinclosomatidae. It was split from the chestnut quail-thrush in 2015. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat In ecology, the term habitat s ...

in the west.

Species

References

* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

''. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3497147 Cinclosomatidae