■iLHNi\. i;)l 



freijueiUs linhliy timbered ridi^es, not too thickly <,Massed, and it is in such situations that it 

 iisuaily nests." 



Mr. (i. A. Keartland wrote me as follows trum Melbnurne, \'i( toria: — " The 'Painted < )uair 

 (Tiiriiix Vdyia] is very partial to barren sandy soil co\ered with bracken fern or short heath. 

 These birds are also fomid in mallee scrub. They are local in habits, and will remain in the same 

 neighbourhood throur;hoat the year if not continually har.issed by do,ns. Althou'_;li they eat a 

 little seed they live principally on insects. On one occasion I noticed the peculiar lli^ht of a 

 ' Painted ( )aail ' near Clayton, which only Hew a few yards each time it was disturbed. When 

 shot it ha 1 the wliole of its ;^ullet tilled with the body of a lar,L;e Fliasniii, which it had swallowed 

 head first. Tliere was half an inch of the insect project in;:,' from tlie bill, whilst the head portion 

 was partly digested. I'hey lly much faster than either the Stubble, ' nr Brown ' (Hiail, and when 

 da'-hins throuL;h the scrub try the skill of e.xpert sportsmen. In a small patch of Mallee scrub 

 at Meltnn I have seen many of them runniiiL; over the liare ground, sometimes a male bird with 

 a brood of four chicks, and at other times pairs or single birds. Occasionally the dogs tiush 

 them from the s,'rass land near the scrub, but they always tly back to the sheltering Mallee. 

 They lun very fast, with their heads as high as possible." 



From .Adelaide, South Australia, |Dr. II. M. Morgan wrote me: — " Tiiniiv vana is always 

 to be found in the hills about .Adelaide, and there they breed. They live in scrub country rather 

 than on open plains. I found three newly hatched young at Blackwood at the end of September, 

 1906, and on the lytn ( )ctober, 190S, I found a nest with four hard set eggs. The nest was 

 built at the foot of a dwarf Sheoak, and was merely a depression in the debris shed by the tree." 



Mr. Tom Carter wrote from Broome Hill, South-western .\ustralia, as follows: — '-The 

 ' Painted (Juail ' (Tuniix vavia) did not come under my observation in the north-western part of 

 this State, and does not appear to occur there, but is fairly plentlfid through the south-west, and 

 is found largely on the coastal hills during the summer months. At Broome Hill it breeds 

 rei^ularly in my paddocks, frequeuting mostly the Hats about the beds of w'atercourses, where a 

 growth of short rushes occurs. I have, however, often seen them ou a rocky rough ridge, upon 

 which grows timber and scrub, and about .Albany and other coastal districts they also are to be 

 found in thick scrub. They occur and breed on some of the islands some miles out to sea, not 

 far from .Albany. The female birds may be heard calling in many months of the year, but 

 mostly from about June until F"el)ruary. Four eggs is the clutch, and the nest is usually made 

 in a tussock of grass or small rushes, and is simply made of a little dry grass. Fggs have been 

 noted 23rd October, igoh, 2nd November, 1907, and the loth October, 190.S. Young in down 

 weie seen on 21.1th October, 1907, and on 20th September, 1908. On 4th October. igoS, I llushed 

 some half L;rown young on a rocky scrubby hill, that flew strongly with the parent birds." 



I'hom Dr. Lonsdale Holden's notes, made while resident at Bellerive, near Hobart, Tasmania, 

 I transcribe the following: — "On t!ie 'ith December, \qo-, a nest of Tni'iiix ravia was found at 

 Wentworth, Bellerive, containing four eggs, on which the bird was sitting. The nest, formed 

 of di led grasses, was built in rough herba'.;e growing between rows of small apple trees, in a young 

 orchard, ami containing several acres of sloping ground. In the same orchard was a ' Brow n ' (_)uad 

 (Syihcxns aiistralis) sitting on eggs. This is the common Quail of the neighbourhood, where, 

 however, it is nearly extenninated. On the 15th December, iijoy, another ' Painted Quail's' nest 

 was found in a paddock adjoining the same orchard. I never met with Tiirnix varia while resident 

 at Circular Head, on the north-western coast of Tasmania." Subse^iuently Mr. Harrison, the 

 owner of the ground, sent me an egg from the latter nest to confirm his identification. It was 

 a typical egg of Turnix varia. 



The nest consists of a shallow cup-shaped hollow, scratched in the ground beneath the 

 shelter of a tuft of grass, rank herbage, or low bush, which is more or less thinly lined with fine 

 dried grass. .An average one measures three inches and a half in internal diameter by two 

 inches in depth. 



