IIASORES, 185 



which I had previously visited in winter, when no appearance 

 of one was to be seen. 



It appears to give preference to low stony ridges thinly 

 covered with grasses, for it was in such situations that I gene- 

 rally found it, though on some occasions I started it from 

 among the rank herbage clothing the alluvial soil of the bot- 

 toms. It lies so close as to be nearly trodden upon before it 

 will rise, and when flushed flies ofl* with such extreme rapidity, 

 as, when its small size and the intervention of trees combine, to 

 render it a most difficult shot to the sportsman. On rising 

 it flies to the distance of one or two hundred yards within 

 two or three feet of the surface, and then suddenly pitches to 

 the ground. As might be expected, it lies well to a pointer, 

 and it was by this means that I found many which I could 

 not otherwise have started. 



In addition to the districts above named, I observed it, 

 although rarely, in the interior of the country north of the 

 Liverpool Plains. Before I left Sydney a single specimen was 

 sent me from South Australia, and in a collection from Swan 

 River I found both the bird and its eggs; these circumstances 

 proving that it possesses a range extending from one side of 

 the continent to the other, and in all probability it inhabits a 

 great portion of the interior. In Western Australia it is 

 stated to frequent clear open spots of grass, and may 

 occasionally be met with in the thick scrub, but its most 

 favourite retreat is the grassy valleys of the interior adjacent 

 to water. 



Pleased as I was at making acquaintance with this little 

 bird, I was still more gratified at finding its nest and eggs. 



It breeds in September and October. The nest is slightly 

 constructed of grasses placed in a shallow depression of the 

 ground under the shelter of a small tuft of grass : the eggs 

 are four in number, of a dirty white, very thickly blotched all 

 over with markings of chestnut, eleven lines and a half long 

 by nine lines broad : eggs from Western Australia arc much 



