176 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Genus Coturnix. 

 Bill short, the nostrils covered by a scale. AVings moderate; the 

 first (luill long, the second and third longest. Tail very short, 

 hidden by the coverts. Tarsi short. Eastern Hemisphere. 



The New Zealand Quail. — Koreive. 

 Coturnix novae-zealandiac . 



Male black, streaked with white and varied with reddish browu on 

 the back. Chin and throat, chestnut; the breast and abdomen, spotted 

 with white. Female browner, the chin and throat white. Eye light 

 hazel. Length of the wing, 4.6 in.; of the tarsus, 1 in. Egg — Buff, 

 splashed with greenish brown; length, 1.25 in. Both Islands. 



There was a time when our handsome quail abounded in almost 

 all parts of the dominion. But bush fires, eats, dogs, guns, and the 

 onward march of civilisation soon brought disaster upon it. It 

 is depressing to read articles, written as early as 1885, referring 

 to the ])ird as a thing of the past. At one time, quail were so 

 numerous on the large island in Lyttelton Harbour, now used as 

 a quarantine station, that it was named ' ' Quail Island. ' ' In the 

 early days of Canterbury, a bag of 20 brace of quail was not 

 looked upon as extraordinary for a day's shooting on the Plains. 

 It was reported in the LytteUon Times, in 1903, that an old 

 settler had stated that he had shot 60 brace Ijefore breakfast on 

 the spot where Cathedral Square, Christchurch, now stands. 

 The slaughter in those days, the settler added, was prodigious. 

 Mr. E. G. Wakefield, in describing Nelson in 1840, refers to long 

 straight lines cut by the surveyors through the fern, and says: 

 " As I walked along these future streets, quail, either singly or in 

 convoys, frequently started up before my steps ; they abound all 

 over this part of New Zealand. ' ' In an early official report to the 

 directors of the New Zealand Company, Colonel Wakefield, 

 dealing with Otago, says, that "(luail are plentiful over all the 

 downs, and in the plains adjoining, and would be more so but for 

 the hawks and kites." There is no doubt that the chief means 

 of destruction in the southern part of the dominion was the 

 immense prairie fires tliat were sent over the land in many 

 directions. 



