THE PAINTED QUAILS. 1 93 



to be a very old male, and in general appearance resembles the 

 most adult males of S. australis, but differs in having the plu- 

 mage much greyer than that of any example of the latter species 

 that I have seen. 



Range.— South-east New Guinea. 

 THE PAINTED QUAILS. GENUS EXCALFACTORIA. 

 Excalfactoria, Bonap. C. R. xlii. p. 881 (1856). 

 Type, E. chinensis (Linn.). 



Tail composed of only eight very short soft feathers, entirely 

 hidden by the upper tail-coverts and less than half the length 

 of the wing. The first primary flight-feather slightly shorter 

 than, or sub-equal to, the second and longest. 



Tarsi without spurs. Sexes entirely different. 



All the three species of this genus are birds of extremely 

 small size, and the plumage of the males is very beautiful. 



I. THE COMMON PAINTED QUAIL. EXCALFACTORIA 

 CHINENSIS. 



The Chinese Quail, Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist. v. p. 77, pi. 247 



(1753). 



Tetrao chinensis, Linn. S. N. i. p. 277 (1766). 



Coturnix excalfactoria, Temm. Pig. et Gall. iii. pp. 516, 742 



(1815)- 



Coturnix flavipes, Blyth, J. As. Soc. Beng. xi. p. 808 (1842). 



Excalfactoria chinensis, Bonap. ; Hume and Marshall, Game 

 Birds of India, ii. p. 162, pi. (1879); Oates, ed. Hume's 

 Nests and Eggs Ind. B. iii. p. 448 (1890); Ogilvie- 

 Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 250 (1893). 



Excalfactoria minima, Gould, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 128; id. B. 

 Asia, vii. pi. vii. (1867). 



Coturnix caineana, Swinh. Ibis, 1865, pp. 351, 542. 

 Adult Male. — Upper-parts brown, mottled and blotched with 



black, most of the feathers with whitish shaft-stripes, widest on 



the lower back and rump ; forehead, sides of the head, and 



winsj-coverts washed with dark slaty-blue, the latter mixed 



