^O From Magazines, Src. [ist "j'uiy 



Africa, and Asia ; C. capensis inhabits South Africa ; C.japonica, 

 China and Japan; C. coroinandelica, t\\Q Indian peninsula; C. 

 ddegorgnci, Central and South Africa ; while C. pectoralis is 

 confined to Australia and Tasmania. In TJie Avicultural 

 Magazine for November, 1906, Mr. D. Seth-Smith, M.B.O.U., 

 contributes some notes on the genus, five of the species of which 

 he has kept in his own aviary. He states : — " As far as cabinet 

 ornithology is concerned there is practically nothing by which 

 to separate the genus Cotiirnix from the genus Syna:ciis. They 

 are, however, perfectly distinct in life. In the first place, the 

 appearance of Swamp-Quails is quite different from that of true 

 Quails. They appear to be much shorter in the legs, but run 

 much faster. The most interesting point of difference is in their 

 breeding habits. Both Syncecus and Excalfactoria are strictly 

 monogamous, and both sexes brood the young, whereas 

 Cotitrnix is semi-polygamous, by which I mean that, although 

 a male will pair with only one female at a time and remain 

 true to her until incubation commences, he will promptly leave 

 her when this period arrives and seek another mate. If the 

 birds are in an enclosure where there is no other hen Quail 

 there is a danger of the cock bullying the hen and driving her 

 off the nest. When the young are hatched the male Coturnix 

 does not attempt to brood them^ — in fact, if he approaches he is 

 promptly driven off by the mother." Concerning the Australian 

 species, he says a female in his aviary reared a brood of seven ; 

 the young males commenced to show black streaks on the 

 breast when five weeks old, and were in adult plumage by 

 about eight weeks. The article is illustrated by an excellent 

 coloured plate picturing the heads of six of the species. 

 * * * 



GOULDIAN Finch. — The plumage phases of the Gouldian 

 Finch {Pocp/nla mirabilis) forms the subject of an interesting 

 article by Dr. A. G. Butler in the September number of The 

 Avicultural Magazine. Dr. Butler thinks that the Red-headed 

 variety of this species is a mutation from the Black-headed 

 variety. " My young birds," he writes, " left the nest before the 

 end of September last year, and by the end of the following 

 April they were just beginning to assume their adult colouring. 

 One, which proves to be a hen, was in full colour by 17th June, 

 and is a typical P. gouldice — at any rate, I can see no red on the 

 face at a distance of 8 feet or so ; the other, which is a cock bird, 

 cannot complete its change to the adult plumage before about 

 the middle of the present month (August) ; it is a well-marked 

 P. mirabilis, far better marked than its mother was. I have not 

 the least doubt that, if this pair were to go to nest together, they 

 would produce a majority of young of the Red-headed variety; 

 the male, though bred from a Black-headed father and an ill- 



