THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 127 



NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF THE BOX HILL DISTRICT. 

 By Robert Hall. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, I2th Dec., 1898.) 

 The Bronzewing Pigeon, Fhaps cludcoptera, Latham, is fairly 

 numerous, considering it is not a gregarious bird. Its flight is 

 strong and rapid, with some nine revolutions per second against 

 thirteen of Passer domesticus. Moulting is being effected by 

 1st August, and nesting quickly follows, continuing to February 

 of the following year. Thus it shows a wide range of nidification. 

 Looking up into a Casuarina one September day in 1896, I saw, 

 as it were, two white eggs suspended in the air, and found them 

 to be those of this pigeon, resting on the meagre support of less 

 than a dozen twigs, which is not unusual with members of this 

 family. The birds occasionally build in whin hedges in the quiet 

 parts of a paddock, and at Swan Hill I have observed them to 

 have added to the decaying house of another bird — as, for instance, 

 a Cracticus — if it chose a forked position. In the Bass River 

 district, where " grass-trees " are very numerous, I once observed 

 (December, 1896) a compact nest of the Bronzewing within two 

 feet of the ground, and artistically placed in a Xanthorrhcea. 

 A good effect was produced by a clear view of the snow-white 

 eggs. 



With us the quail orders are represented by three species : 

 Stubble Quail, Coturnix jjectoralis, Gould ; Painted Quail, Turnix 

 varia, Latham ; and Brown Quail, Syntecus australis, Temminck. 



As I believe a key to the most recent classification of Aus- 

 tralian quails may be useful to our country members, the following 

 one is taken from the "British Museum Catalogue," 1893 • — 

 Order — Gallinse (hind toe present) : — 



1. Coturnix pectoralis, (J,\d., ^iuhhlt Qi\2l\\. Has 10 to 12 



feathers in tail. Axillaries long and white. 



2. ISynoecus australis, Temm., Brown Quail. Includes «S\ 



sordidus, Old., *S'. diemenensis, Old., /S. cervinus, Gld. 

 Has 10 (rarely 12) feathers in tail. Axillaries short and 

 grey. 



3. Excalfactoria lineata, Scop., Chestnut-bellied Quail. Has 



only 8 feathers in tail. 



Order — Hemipodii (hind toe absent, except in Plain Wanderer). 



4. Turnix maculosa, Temm. [T. melanotus), Red-backed 



Quail. 



5. Turnix melanogaster, Gld., Black-breasted Quail. 



6. Turnix varia, Lath. {2\ scintillans). Painted Quail. 



7. Turnix caslanonota. Chestnut-backed Quail. 



8. Turnix pyrrhothorax, Gld., Red-chested Quail. 



9. Turnix velox, Gld., Little Quail, 



