1!"-' TUKNICIU.E. 



In Xew South Wales it is still the most conimDii species foiiiul close to Sydney. For 

 several mimtlis a small covey ol nine birds used to freijuent my garden at Koseville. L'sually 

 they could he seen lea\in^ the bush just before dusl;, inarchin,t; one alter the other in a 

 strai<;ht line up the steep f;rassy embankment in the lower part of the garden, and they were 

 remarkably tame. In the breeding season they left, and probably bred in the neighbouring bush, 

 where the nests were occasionally IduuiI. These birds are nocturnal. 1 kept some alive, and 

 although one seldom heard them through the day, they were remarkably lively at all hours of 

 the ni,L;ht, more especially young birds, which l<ept up intermittent calls until daylight. In 

 the day time their booming note, repeated at short intervals, closely resembled that of the 

 Bronzewing Pigeon ( I'lnips iliahoptcra ). 



Contents of most stomachs examined contained chielly various kinds of vegetable matter, 

 seeds and the remains of beetles ; larvic of insects also form to a large extent the food of this 

 species. 



Mr. II. K. bIKery wrote me : — " 7";;;-/;/r varia breeds iu the Hig Scrub District of the 

 Richmond Kiver, the usual number of eggs found in a nest being four. The principal breeding 

 season is the summer time, but I found a nest containing four eggs on the <sth April, 1903." 



From Copmanhurst, in the l.'pper Clarence District, New South Wales, Mr. (ieorge Savidge 

 wriite : — "The \'aried (_)uail ( furiiix viiria), called bv local sportsmen the ' Dotterel ' < )uail, is 

 found in pairs and suiall lots of four or live birds throughout the Clarence River District. Lhilike 

 most of the other members of the family, it prefers the dry strong ridges of the mountam 

 country, and when flushed amongst the timber presents a difficult shot. It mostly nms away 

 from a dog and sportsman, and frequently rises some distance from the gun. I have found 

 their nests many times, and the eggs are always four in number. It is well hidden, near a rock, 

 stone or fallen tree, and sheltered with a tuft of grass. 1 have fountl them in every month from 

 October until April, viz., iitii |anuary, loth February, ist, i^th and 2 1st March, olh .April, qth 

 September, 28th October, 7th, ijth, 20th, 21st November, 2nd and 12th December. The food 

 of the species consists of various kinds of seeds, and some 1 examined contained the inside 

 seed or kernel of the Oak-trees, which had been opened by the ^"ellow-tailed and Banks Black 

 Cockatoos." 



The late Mr. Henry Xewcombe, of Randwick, handed me tiie following notes: — "The 

 'Dotterel Ouail' ('fiiiiiix varia) was to be found on the sides of the scrubby hills and on the flat 

 country slightly inland from the coast, and also east from the Botany-road leading from Sydney 

 to the Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, /.(•., the country between Randwick and I!i:)tany Bay. During 

 the year 1854 they were \ery plentiful at the south end of Coogee Beach, ori the sides of the 

 small hills, extending from where Tidswell's Hotel now stands to about a (juarter of a mile 

 inland, and then extending south a similar distance. In this \ery small space of country a 

 sportsman could bag his fifteen to twenty brace of birds on any afternoon with ease. The young 

 of all ages and sizes were very numerous, and such numbers lluttered up with the old ones at 

 the same moment, that it was very often a diflicult job to single out the old bird from the crowd 

 that rose. In 1855, at a locality called the ' dam,' at Waterloo, and shooting from there o\er 

 the hills and llats up to the Half-way House on the Botany-road, from fifteen to twenty brace 

 of birds could be bagged any morning before breakfast, other k'inds of game also falling to the 

 gun. These birds make their nests under any scrubby bush, by simply scratching a hole in the 

 sand and there depositing their eggs. It is easily known wlien a nest is close by, as the parent 

 bird when tlushed from it flutters along in a very peculiar manner, making a strange call or 

 cry something like ' k-ick-l<ick-kick'-kicl<,' uttered ijuickly, and alii.;hts a \ery short distance off, 

 being very reluctant to leave its nest." 



Dr. W. Macgillivray wrote from liroken Hill, in South-western Xew South Wales: "I 

 have ne\er met with I'liniix varia in open paddocks or plains; in my experience it usually 



