on the Breeding in Captivity of Turnix tanki. 321


obliged to disturb liim each morning as I went to feed the birds,

he continued Ids task in a most praiseworthy manner and, on

May iotli, hatched all three eggs, incubation having been

completed in the incredibly short space of tzvelve days.


Here is surely another fact which stamps this genus as one

of the most remarkable in the avian kingdom; that young, as

well developed in every way as those of the true Quails and

other Game-birds should be produced in about half the time

that those birds occupy in incubation. The Painted Quails

(. Excaljactoria ), be it remembered, take 21 or 22 days to hatch,

and yet they are about equal in size to, and their young are no

better developed at birth than those of, the birds now under

notice.


From the day she laid her third egg the female appeared to

take no notice whatever of the nest, and even when the young

were hatched, apparently ignored the presence of both her mate

and offspring. In fact I found that she ate most of the food that

was provided for the chicks and so shut her in a separate place.


The little cock took the greatest care of his charges,

brooding them most tenderly, and attacking any living creature,

including myself, that might approach them too closely. He

would pick up minute insects and hold them in his bill until the

chicks came and took them from him, and, for the first day or

two the chicks, so far as I was able to observe, never picked up

food for themselves.


The three chicks progressed favourably for the first two or

three days, but it was, unfortunately, almost impossible, so cold

had the weather been, to find a sufficient stock of the right kind

of insects, and artificial food of all kinds was rejected. Fresh

ants’ eggs would have answered the purpose admirably, but

there were none to be had ; small gentles would have done,

but they were not to be obtained either. I had decided

to arrange for a stock of these, but I had put the probable

period of incubation at about three weeks, and as they arrived

in twelve days none were ready. I dug over the best part of

the garden in search of insects; I swept the hedgerows with an

entomologist’s sweeping net, but, with the exception of finding a



