224 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Perdortyx Montessus, Mém. Soc. Saone, Vol. VI., p. 36, 1885. Type (by monotypy) = 
Synoicus lodoise ‘‘ Verreaux et Des Murs ’’ Montessus = Tetrao coturnix Linné. 
Maroturnia Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 5, p. 112, Sept. 24th, 1914. Type - 
(by original designation) : Coturnix pectoralis Linné. 
Small Galline birds with short curved bills, short wings, short tail and short 
legs and feet. The bill is short, broadly triangular, tip somewhat spoon shaped, 
sides sloping, culmen not keeled but pronounced, deep at base ; the lower mandible 
shallow and entirely overlapped by upper mandible which projects into a prominent 
tip; the nostrils are situated in a semicircular depression, appearing as linear slits, 
situated midway between ridge and edge of mandible near the base, the feathers 
of the lores projecting on to the nasal groove below the nasal apertures, which are 
almost hidden by the strong membranous operculum characteristic of this family. 
The wings are short and rather pointed, the flight feathers stout and capable of long 
flight ; the first and second primaries are almost or quite equal, the third a little 
shorter, and these constitute the tip of the wing; the secondaries rather short, 
reaching to the ninth primary only. The tail is composed of ten short soft feathers, 
less than one-third the length of the wing, rounded in shape and the upper tail- 
coverts long, reaching to the end of the tail, the under tail-coverts about as long. 
The legs are short and stout, the tarsus transversely scutellate in front, covered with 
hexagonal scales on sides and behind, the toes scutellate ; the tarsus is nearly twice 
as long as the culmen. The toes are short and stout, the middle toe longest, the 
inner and outer subequal, the hind-toe long about one-third the length of the 
inner ; claws fairly long and sharp. 
Coloration streaked black and white above and below. 
153. Coturnix pectoralis—_STUBBLE-QUAIL. 
Gould, Vol. V., pl. 88 (pt. xxv.), Dec. 1st, 1846. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 1, pl. 9, Oct. 31st, 
1910. 
Coturnix pectoralis Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. m., pl. (29), April lst, 1837: New South 
Wales. 
Coturnix pectoralis pretermissa Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 178, Jan. 31st, 1912: 
Broome Hill, South-west Australia. 
DistTRIBUTION.—Australia generally. Tasmania. 
Adult male-—Head, neck, entire back and scapulars rufous-brown and black 
streaked with white ; a white streak from the middle of the crown to the hind-neck, 
another one which commences at the base of the bill and goes over the eye and along 
the sides of the neck forming a white eyebrow ; mantle and upper back rufous-brown 
more broadly streaked with white, some of the feathers broadly barred with black, 
and narrowly with rufous bars ; some of the feathers of the back black with very 
narrow zigzag markings ; scapulars like the back with grey margins to the tips of 
the feathers ; lower back and rump show more black, with ashy tips to the feathers, 
the rufous-brown broken up into very narrow cross-bars ; tail-feathers dark grey, 
with a white shaft-streak and white bars on both webs towards the margins ; lesser 
wing-coverts, median and primary-coverts ashy-grey with paler shaft-lines ; primary- 
and secondary-quills ashy-grey with dark shaft-lines somewhat paler on the inner 
webs ; lores, sides of face, chin and throat rufous, with a few black dots from the 
gape, which indicate a line along the sides of the neck and meet on the middle of the 
lower throat ; the feathers on the chest and breast almost entirely black and some 
with white outer webs, the feathers of the lower-breast white with a broad streak of 
black down the middle, those on the sides of the breast and sides of the body are 
white narrowly lined on each side with black and margined with rufous ; the feathers 
on the lower flanks more broadly centred with white, the dark brown on the outer 
webs divided by a narrow longitudinal line of buff ; middle of abdomen, thighs and 
under tail-coverts white, the latter more or less lined with black; under wing- 
