18G 



TIUlNICIIJ.'E. 



Range, and the late jMr. Edward Spaldin,L; at Cardwell. Mi. 11. G. Barnard sent me several 

 sets of its eggs taken at Coomooboolaroo, Dnaringa, also the skin of a male flushed while sitting 

 on four eggs. Mr. J. A. Boyd, when resident in the Herbert Iviver District, North-eastern 

 Queensland, forwarded me two eggs of this species. They were found by one of his overseers 

 lymg on the ground in a sweet potato crop, on Ripple Creek sugar plantation, on the 26th 

 November, iSyi, without any nest. 



In New South Wales it has been obtained by various collectors on the rivers of the North- 

 coast District. Near the metropolis there still remains fine cover for this species, and the 

 numerous specimens in the Australian Museum Collection were mostly procured by the late Mr. 

 Henry Newcombe at Randwick and Botany. 



Mr. H. R. Elvery sent me the following notes; — " In the year 1904 my nephew brought 

 me a set of four eggs of I'uruix maculosa, which he found at Lynwood, about six miles from my 

 residence, on the 2nd December. Later in the same month I located a pair of birds on my 

 property, and searched for the nest several times without result, until the 28th December, when I 

 found the nest in a patch of high blue couch grass, and well concealed. The birds had a very 

 narrow beaten track leading to the nest, which could not, however, be seen until the grass was 

 parted. On the last occasion, when I succeeded in finding the nest, I was attracted by the call 

 of the bird. The nest contained three eggs, which proved to be the full set, as incubation had 

 commenced." 



Mr. George Savidge writes me from Copmanhurst, New South W'ales : — "The Blade- 

 spotted Turnix (Tiinii.v tiiaciilosaj is by no means a rare bird in the Clarence River District, 

 inhabiting similar situations to the King Ouail. I have found its nest containing four eggs 

 several times, and they may easily be distinguished from theeggs of other membersofthe family." 



The late I\Ir. Henry Newcombe, of Randwick, gave me the following note: — " In the early 

 days the 'Orange-breasted Ouail' (Tuniix iihhulosa) was scarce, but within the last eight or nine 

 years there has been a fair number about, three or four brace being obtainable without much 

 trouble of an afternoon. They are cunning, and give the dogs some trouble to get them up. 

 They hang generally about the borders of patchy scrub, and after they rise take a fairly long 

 and fast Ifight at times, and then pitch into the densest scrub they can find, which they do with 

 great adroitness, ne\-er failing to find the thickest spot." 



The nest, similar to that of other members of the genus, is a scantily grass-lined hollow in 

 the ground, sheltered by a convenient tuft of grass, herbage or low bush. 



The eggs are usually tour in number for a sitting, oval or rounded-o\al in form, some 

 specimens tapering abruptly to the smaller end, the shell being close-grained, smooth and the 

 surface glossy. The ground colour varies from a greyish-white to a faint yellowish or light 

 stone-grey, which is almost obscured by very minute freckles of pale umber-brown intermingled 

 with others of varied shades of grey. Some have the usual pepper and salt markings thickly 

 and uniformly distributed over the shell, while others have conspicuous spots or small blotches 

 of dark slaty-grey, which approach in some places an inky hue, scattered unevenly over the 

 larger end of the shell. Two eggs of a set of four received from Mr. |. A. Boyd, and taken 

 on the 13th December, 1S90, at Ripple Creek, Herbert River, North-eastern Queensland, 

 measure: — Length (A) 0-97 x 0-73 inches; (B) 0-98 x 073 inches. Two eggs of a heavily 

 incubated set of four, taken by Mr. Boyd in the same locality on the 3rd February, 1895, 

 measure; — Length (A) 0-92 x 073 inches; (B) o'gi x 075 inches. A set of four taken by 

 Mr. H. G. Barnard, at Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Dawson River, on the 16th March, 1893, 

 measures: — Length (A) an elongated specimen, 0-98 x 073 inches; (B) 0-87 x 074 inches; 

 (C) 0-92 X 076 inches ; (D) 0-93 x 074 inches. The male was flushed off the nest, shot, and 

 the skin forwarded with the eggs. 



