1 88 ALLEN'S naturalist's LIBRARY. 



Range. — Australia and Tasmania. 



Habits. — This is a very common bird all over Eastern and 

 South-eastern Australia, as well as in Tasmania. 



Gould writes : " Open grassy plains, extensive grass flats, 

 and the parts of the country under cultivation are situations 

 favourable to the habit of the bird ; in its economy and mode 

 of life, in fact, it so closely resembles the Quail of Europe (C. 

 coturnix) that a description of one is equally descriptive of 

 the other. Its powers of flight are considerable, and when 

 flushed, it wings its way with arrow-like swiftness to a distant 

 part of the plain ; it lies well to a pointer, and has from the 

 first settlement of the colony always afforded considerable 

 amusement to the sportsman. It is an excellent bird for the 

 table, fully equalling in this respect its European representative. 

 . . . The chief food of this species is grain, seeds, and in- 

 sects; the grain, as a matter of course, being only procured in 

 cultivated districts, and hence the name of Stubble Quail has 

 been given to it by the colonists of Tasmania, from the great 

 numbers that visit the fields after the harvest is over." 



Nest. — The slight nest of dry grass is placed in grassy flats 

 or under some tuft of herbage on the open plain. 



Eggs. — Seven to fourteen in number, varying considerably in 

 markings, even in the same nest ; usually with the ground- 

 colour yellowish-white, with markings varying from minute 

 freckles of umber-brown to large marbled blotches of a darker 

 tint. Average measurements, i'2 by 0*94 inch. 



VI. THE NEW ZEALAND QUAIL. COTURNIX NOV^- 

 ZEALANDIiE. 



Coturnix tiovce-zealandice^ Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. Astrol. 



Zool. i. p. 242, pi. 24, fig. I (1830) ; Buller, Hist. B. N. 



Zeal. i. p. 225, pi. xxiii. (1888) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. 



Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 245 (1893). 

 Adult Male. — Like the male of C. pedoralis^ but larger ; the 

 general colouring of the upper-parts warmer in tonej the sides 



