(-•OTHUNIX. 



171 



Adhi.t fkiiai.i:.— />///■: /-.v from !}„■ mah' in h,iruu, ih,'. ^iha nf ll,.' h-a^l, n.^ck ,nul ,„rr<ir,;-/s /„it/'i/~ 

 white. ,/oUh,/ H-llh },ro>rnish-hlack : //,. //iroal N-hil,' ,inil llie f.nlhn-x „f th. ,-h^st an'Un-e.iM. Inipj-irhU^, 

 subm(ir(iinalh/ I'dyed nu lilher .ii,/i iiilli JiUick. 



yj/s/nVw/;,-;/. — North-westein Australia, Oueensland, New South Wales, X'ictoria, South 

 Australia, Central Australia, Tasmania. 



/T^ilH Sub-order Phasiaxa is one of the most interestin.i,' t; roups of liirds inhabiting,' Australia 



-L and Tasmania, for it affords satisfaction alike to the Ornithologist and sportsman, and 



is the means of furnishing a livelihood to a number of persons who earn a living by what they 



snare and shoot. As long as there are 

 iJird Protection Acts or Game Acts, and 

 Ornithologists and sportsmen, so will 

 there he a divergence of opinion as to 

 what constitutes the proper close season, 

 and they will lie no nearer finalityseveral 

 decades hence unless given absolute 

 protection all the year round. (_)uail, 

 like Pigeons and Doves, and some of the 

 waterfowl, are irregular breeders, being 

 largely governed by the food supply 

 and the rainfall, and may breed during 

 any month of the year. Ducks which 

 usually breed m New South Wales in 

 July and Au>;ust, will bre;;d in February 

 and March altera heavy rainfall, especi- 

 ally if preceded by a se\ere drought. Coiiiinilx pc\ioriilis and Tiiniix van'n usually breed in 

 October and November, but I have k'nown both species to breed freely in March and again in 

 August. Consequently deputations to Ministers administering these Acts, are frequent at some 

 time or another in all the States, sportsmen usually contending that the season opened too late, 

 and the bird lover and Ornithologist that the close season should be extended. A close season, 

 therefore, for the birds mentioned by no means affords absolute protection, but only for the usual 

 breeding season. The carnage that takes place in some open seasons is thus referred to, and is 

 one of many, in the Sydney daily press:— "The wholesale destruction of Ouail which is at 

 present taking place in the north-western portion of the State, has awakened the susceptibilities 

 of even the Ouail shooters. According to one of these sportsmen, who has just returned from 

 Narrabri with a bag of birds which he modestly estimated as not exceeding two hundred, the 

 close season ought to be at once proclaimed. The birds, he states, are not merely nesting, l)ut 

 are actually laying, and the havoc that is being wrought in their midst by the gun must seriously 

 affect the preservation of this desirable game. At the present time shooting parties in the Moree 

 District not infrequently return with bags running well into four figures, and the close season 

 does not begin until the 15th September. Conscientious, as distinct from lecldess sportsmen, 

 are at one in urging in the present instance the immediate proclamation of the close season." 



To shew how irregular the bree.ling seasons are may be gauged by another paragraph 

 appearing in the same newspaper, under date 17th April, 1895 :— " Windsor (N.S.W.) sportsmen 

 complain that the season for Ouail shooting in this district has been prematurely opened. Since 

 the 1 2th instant shooters have been killing birds by the score, and very many of these have been 

 found to contain eggs. Numerous nests containing eggs have also been discovered. All this 

 points to the fact that the open season should begin at a later date if this species is to be preserved 

 in this neighbourhrjod." And so might similar paragraphs be written at one time or another, 



' " Evenin;:! News." Sydney, 9th August, 1904. 



