I 74 From Magazines, &c. [isf "jan. 



the male by running backwards and forwards in front of him 

 with tail erect and crop puffed out like a Pouter Pigeon, and dis- 

 covered a neat, round hole, evidently intended for a nest, formed 

 in some hay and moss behind a few sticks in corner of aviary." 

 The two following days the female spent a good deal of time in 

 the nest, constantly calling to her mate. Mr. Seth-Smith goes 

 on to record for 17th May — "The female constantly 'booming' 

 and displaying to her mate, the display, as a rule, being 

 performed thus : — The male squats amongst the grass, and the 

 female runs round him in a circle with tail more or less erected 

 and crop extended and carried close to the ground. Having 

 run round him once or twice, she stands facing him at a distance 

 of perhaps a foot or eighteen inches, and commences ' booming ' 

 or ' cooing ' to him like a cock Pigeon, at the same time stamping 

 and scratching with her feet, while the male responds with a 

 faint clucking note." On the 20th the nest was completed, and 

 on the following five days an egg was laid. Surely five eggs is 

 a record clutch for this Australian bird. When the fifth tg^ was 

 deposited the male commenced to sit properly. Incubation was 

 complete in thirteen days, when the male left the nest with three 

 chicks. The female took no notice of the young. In about ten 

 days, or when the young were able to fly, they took everything 

 from the bill of the male, and when sixteen days old were 

 capable of an independent existence. Mr. Seth-Smith's 

 conclusion, after careful observations, is that this species is 

 polyandrous, the female pairing successively with several males 

 during the breeding season. And, again reversing the usual 

 order of things, when she finds a good grub or tit-bit she holds 

 it in her bill and calling presents it to her mate. Mr. Seth- 

 Smith certainly scores off Australians by informing them of 

 these interesting traits in their own birds. Painted Quails have 

 been fairly plentiful near Melbourne lately. A nest containing 

 four eggs was discovered in a garden at Hawthorn, but the 

 gardener mowing the grass too near caused the nest to be 

 deserted. Another nest was observed in the tea-tree at Black 

 Rock. The young were hatched, and were seen following their 

 parents through the scrub. 



With the pair of Painted Quails Mr. Seth-Smith also pur- 

 chased a pair of Swamp or Brown Quails {Syficrcus australis), 

 and was equally successful in getting them to breed. He 

 furnishes a short article on the subject in The Avicultural 

 Magazine for October. When the Brown Quails were first let 

 loose in the aviary, as is their nature, they were extremely shy. 

 Towards the end of May and the beginning of June several eggs 

 were laid about the floor of the aviary. These were gathered 

 and placed in what appeared to be the selected nest — merely 

 the usual slight hollow, lined with a few grass stems, in herbage. 

 On 1 6th June the female commenced to sit on nine eggs. On 



