184 FHASIANlii.K. 



of the stunted i'lains Sheuak. It was raised a few inches olf tlie ground in the heathery cover, 

 and contained seven fresh eggs; unfortunately 1 had stepped on it and l)rol;en two of the eggs 

 before 1 found the nest." 



The nest of the King Quail is a sliglit grass-lined depression or liollow in the ground, 

 sheltered by some tuft of grass or bunch of weeds. The site selected is usually in swampy localities, 

 but sometimes grassy flats and cultivation paddocks are chosen as nesting places. 



The eggs are usually four or li\e in number for a sitting, but as many as nine have been 

 found, probably the result of two females laying in the same nest, for the eggs were of two distinct 

 types, live of them being conspicuously spotted, the remainder finely dotted and hardly distinguish- 

 able from the ground colour. They are oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and 

 lustrous. Typically the eggs are of a pale brown f^round colour, whii h is inon- or less covered 

 with dots, spots and small irregular-shaped markings of blackish-brown. Others have the 

 ground colour thickly sprinkled with small and almost invisible dots of blacldsh-brown, and 

 often here and there with a few small blotches of a darker hue. In some the groundcolour is 

 of a pale olive-green tint, and while as a rule the markings are evenly distributed over the surface, 

 they fre(]uently predominate or are altogether confined to one end, and often at the smaller end 

 of the shell. A set of five, taken at Botany, near Sydney, on the 4th September, 1893, measures : — ■ 

 Length (A) i*i2 x o-8 inches; (B) it x 0-82 inches; (C) 1-09 x 0-78 inches; (D) it x 0-8 

 inches ; (E) i-og x 0-76 inches. Eight eggs of a set of nine tal<en on the 23rd February, 1895, 

 by Mr. George Savidge, at Copmanhurst, on the Upper Clarence Ri\er, measures : — Length (.\) 

 1-02 x 0-79 inches; (B) 1-04 x 078 inches ; (C) i'o6 x 0-76 inches ; (H) 0-99 x 0-73 inches ; 

 (E) I X 0-8 inches; (F) i-o8 x 077 inches; ((j) i x 078 inches; (11) i'o3 < 076 inches. 



Young females resemble the adult female in the markings of the upper parts, but are every- 

 where lighter and browner; on the under parts the dull white throat has no tinge of buff, and it 

 is not surrounded with a line of blackish feathers ; fore-necl;, upper breast and upper sides of 

 body dusky black with narrow whitish shaft streaks; feathers on the abdomen dull grey tipped 

 with pale cream ; feathers on the lower sides of the body dull brownish-black with narrow 

 whitish shaft stripes, and crossed with pale buffy-white cross-bars. Total length 4 inches. 



The usual breeding season in Eastern Australia commences in September, and continues 

 until the end of iNLirch, but nests with eggs and young ha\e been noted in all months of the 

 year. 



