Locally common but NT species is probably extinct. Sedentary.
Habitat
Rainforest, including vine-thickets and monsoon forests, with low to mid-level canopy, dense litter layer but less often in areas with dense undergrowth.
Nest
A circular depression scratched into the ground, roughly lined with long wiry tendrils of plants, leaves, and fibre.
Eggs (Guide)
1 or 2; white or pale grey, spotted and blotched with blue-grey and red-brown; oval; about 22 x 18 mm. Incubation: by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous.
Subspecies
Formerly accepted subspecies colcloughi, known from only two specimens collected in 1910, supposedly from R Roper, in Northern Territory (Australia), now thought to have been based on specimens of mistaken provenance.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
superciliaris Gould, 1850 - Northern Cape York Peninsula, Qld, Australia, extending south to the Archer River on the western coast and to McIlwraith Range - Stewart River on the eastern coast.
beccarii (Salvadori, 1876) - Arfak and Wandammen Mits, New Guinea. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Papuan Scrub-Robin (Drymodes beccarii).
nigriceps Rand, 1940 - Cyclops Mts and the northern slope of the Oranje Range, New Guinea. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Papuan Scrub-Robin (Drymodes beccarii).
brevirostris (De Vis, 1897) - South-eastern and southern New Guinea and Aru Island. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Papuan Scrub-Robin (Drymodes beccarii).
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet