GALLINiE. 



43 



OEDER V. GALLINiE : game birds. 



Legs, strong, sometimea armed with a spur; hind toe, more or less developed, elevated 

 from the ground. 



TETRAONIDiE. 



BUI, broad at the base, arched ; tail, rounded. , 



CoTURNix. Quail. 



Bill, short ; nostrils, covered by a scale ; wings, moderate, first quill long, second and 

 third the longest ; tail, very short, hidden by the coverts ; tarsi, short. 

 Warm and temperate parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. 



53. Coturnix novse-zealandise. Qtioy et Oaim. 



Native Quail. Koeeke. 



(Plate XIX.) 



Black, streaked with white, and varied with reddish-brown on the back, spotted with 

 white on the breast and abdomen ; throat and cheeks, rufous. 



Female. — Browner, and without the rufous on the cheeks and throat. 



L., 18 ; W., 10 ; B., 1-25 ; T., 1-25. 



Egg. — Oval ; buff, splashed with greenish-brown ; length, 1"25 ; breadth, "9. 



Hab. — Both Islands. 



'^ This handsome species — the only indigenous representative in 

 New Zealand of the order Gallinse — is now on the verge of extinc- 

 tion. In the early days of the colony it was excessively abundant 

 in all the open country^ and especially on the grass-covered downs 

 of the South Island. The first settlers^ who carried with them 

 from the Old Country their traditional love of sporty enjoyed some 

 excellent Quail-shooting for several years ; and it is a matter of local 

 history that Sir D. Monro and Major Richmond, in 1848, shot as 

 many as forty-three brace in the course of a single day within a few 

 miles of what is now the city of Nelson : while a Canterbury writer 

 has recorded that ' in the early days, on the plains near Selwyn, a 

 bag of twenty brace of Quail was not looked upon as extraordinary 

 sport for a day's shooting.' But, partly owing to the introduction of 

 dogs, cats, and rats, and partly to the prevalence of the so-called 

 ' bush-fires/ or burning of the runs (a necessary incident of sheep- 

 farming in a new country), the Quail has rapidly disappeared, and 

 it will ere long be numbered among the many extinct forms of 

 animal life in New Zealand. Its j)lace, however, has been more than 

 adequately supplied by several introduced species, all of which appear 

 to thrive well and multiply in their new home." — Buller. 



