PAINTED QUAIL. 231 
below pale grey; bill, distal portion brown, basal part yellow ; iris greyish-brown ; 
tarsi and toes dull yellow. Total length 160 mm.; culmen 14, wing 80, tail 25, 
tarsus 21. 
Adult male——Smaller than the female but similar in plumage, with less chestnut 
on the upper-surface, and less vinous-chestnut on the neck; the inner secondaries 
without any chestnut, but mottled with black and ochreous-buff vermiculations. 
Bill yellow, the distal half and the tip of the lower mandible brown ; iris white ; 
feet yellow. Total length 135 mm.; culmen 12, wing 78, tail 20, tarsus 17. 
Immature.—Very similar to the adult. 
Nestling —Very like those of the next species. 
Nest.—A scantily grass-lined hollow in the ground, sheltered by a convenient 
tuft of grass or low bush. 
Eggs.—Clutch, four ; ground-colour very pale slaty-grey, almost entirely hidden 
by brown spots, intermixed with larger blotches of dark slaty-grey ; surface smooth 
and very glossy ; axis 25 mm., diameter 19. 
These eggs can easily be distinguished from those of 7. velox by being much 
darker and the surface of the shell bright and glossy. 
Breeding-season.—October to January. 
Distribution and forms.—From India through the Moluccas and New Guinea to 
Northern Australia, the only member of the family in Australia which has an 
extra-limital distribution. The extra-limital forms have been insufficiently studied 
to diagnose correctly their subspecific differences, but three fairly well-marked 
subspecies occur in Australia, as: Z’. m. maculosa (Temminck) from New South Wales 
and South Queensland (of which H. melanotus Gould is a synonym) ; 7’. m. pseutes 
Mathews from North-west Australia, with a well-marked fulvous superciliary stripe 
and the fulvous under coloration more extensive and uniform; and 7’. m. yorki 
Mathews from North Queensland, a much paler form than the preceding. 
Genus MARIANORNIS. 
Marianornis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 5, p. 128, Dec. 28th, 1917. Type 
(by original designation): Perdix varia Latham. 
Larger Turnices with longer and stouter bills, short wings, tail, and legs and 
feet. The bill is formed as in the last named but is much longer and stouter, and 
the wings, legs and feet are also similar ; the tail is longer, more than one-third the 
length of the wing, the feathers a little stronger than in the preceding. The legs 
are also a little shorter proportionately, being less than one-fourth the length of the 
wing, whereas in the preceding they are more. 
Coloration, general coloration above chestnut, streaked with black, white and 
grey ; under-surface, chin and abdomen whitish, breast with bold black marking ; 
sexes similarly coloured, males duller and smaller. 
157. Marianornis varius —PAINTED QUAIL. 
Gould, Vol. V., pls. 82-3 (pt. xx1.), Dec. lst, 1845. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 1, pl. 15, Oct. 31st, 
1910. 
Perdix varia Latham, Index Ornith. Suppl., p. uxm., 1801, after May 30th: (Sydney), New 
South Wales, based on Watling drawing No. 227. 
Hemipodius scintillans Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1845, p. 62, Sept.: Houtman’s 
Abrolhos, West Australia. 
Turnix varia stirlingt Mathews, Noy. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 181, Jan. 31st, 1912: Stirling 
Range, South-west Australia. 
Turnix varia subminuta Mathews, 7b.: Cooktown, North Queensland. 
DistrrputTion.—Australia generally. Tasmania. 
Adult female ——General colour above chestnut, varied with black and grey, and 
linearly streaked with white. Mantle and back chestnut, with a few bars or spots of 
