NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. ^^S 



Some of the eao-licr birds breed in September, others later, accord- 

 ing to the season, the majority laying in the summer months (i.e., 

 December, January, and Fcbruai7), or when the gi-ass seeds ripen. 

 We have many instances of late (probably second) broods in Victoria. 



I knew of an incident at Mordialloc, on the opening day of the 

 shooting season for Quail (1st March, 1897), when a Stubble bird rose 

 and was shot, it being aftei-wards ascertained she flushed from a set 

 of sLk fresh eggs. The same season, in Gippsland, at mid-winter (July), 

 a clutch of newly-hatched young was seen. 



Captain Doveton, a keen sportsman, kindly furnished me with a 

 note of having seen, at Sunbiuy, on 28th April, 1888, Stubble Quail 

 too young to shoot. 



My friend Mr. A. W. IMilligan, in communicating to " The Austral- 

 asian," and writing from Gippsland, the season 1895, states; — "It 

 might be interesting to some of your sporting and scientific readers 

 to know that on Good Friday morning last, 12th April, wliilst Quail 

 shooting on the Traralgon Park Estate, Traralgon, I foimd a Quail's 

 nest containing seven eggs. On breaking one of them I found it to 

 have been comparatively new-laid. On Easter Tuesday following, the 

 dogs of my friend who accompanied me flushed a ' squeaker,' which 

 I subsequently caught, and have now in captivity. Tlie dogs on the 

 same day found three much younger birds, which were imable to fly, 

 one of which they killed. The birds were the Coturnix pecforalis, or 

 Stubble Quail." 



I could recount many other instances of Quails breeding late in 

 the season, were it necessaiy. 



There has been much controversy in Victoria about the close 

 season for Quails, many of our sportsmen complaining that it opens 

 too late (i.e., 1st March) ; but I think it wovdd be to the sportsman's 

 own interest to let the law remain as it is, besides, it would give the 

 birds the benefit of the doubt. 



Our Quail are not migratory, as some persons suppose, but their 

 movements are regulated by the seasons. If they were migratory, 

 they would disappear from Tasmania also, where, if I remember 

 rightly, the shooting season does not open till the 1st May. 



A fact that mitigates against our brooding Quails is that 

 they are prone to nest in grain crops, which are usually garnered 

 before the young are hatched ; thus many eggs are destroyed. Then 

 if the old birds seek other pastures they have hardly time to rear 

 second broods before the hunter's gun is heard. 



I may here give the interesting and valuable remarks of " Neno," 

 as they appeared in "The Australasian," 5th December, 1896: — "The 

 common beUef is that Stubble Quail migrate, arriving in Victoria in 

 spring, and leaving in autumn. Such a beUef is erroneous. Quail do 

 not migrate. They certainly shift about, and at odd times, owing to 

 bad seasons, they move off to better feeding grounds. In spring the 

 stubble birds are numerous on the gi-assy river flats and reclaimed coast 

 marsh lands of South Gippsland, also in growing crops, and such like 

 places. Young Quail may be seen in November, and I have noted 

 them up to the end of February. When tlie shooting season opens in 



