Letters, Extracts, Notices, &^c. 467 



" March 25, 1892. The Madagascar Bush Quails are noisy ,• 

 the note of the female differs very considerably from that of 

 Turnix sylvatica ; the male has a short purring chuckle. 



"April 13, 1892. The Bush Quails have an egg, not much 

 resembling that of ' Torillo ' = T. sylvatica. April 20. Another 

 e^^ laid, but no sign of nesting. One egg was cracked, so 

 we removed both. 



"April 26. The Bush Quail laid another egg, which was 

 found broken to pieces this morning. I placed these birds 

 in a larger cage and removed them to a quiet place, with a 

 good supply of dry moss, and on May 4 they had made a 

 nest and laid two eggs, to which a third was added on the 

 5th, but so far as I could ascertain neither bird sat steadily 

 on the eggs, and all three were eventually broken. ^^ I believe 

 that in a larger cage, partially darkened and never disturbed, 

 we might have had some eggs hatched, but the birds were so 

 constantly restless, and so easily frightened, that the cleaning 

 of the cage and supplying food and water prevented them 

 from sitting successfully, and also prevented our ascertaining 

 which of the birds, if either, attempted incubation. I gave 

 two of the eggs to Professor A. Newton, and one to Lieut. - 

 Col. Ed. Butler. 



I am, Sir, 



Yours &c., 



June 16th, 1892. LiLFORD. 



P.S. — Since I wrote this letter my bird-keeper has told me 

 that he did on May 4th detect the male bird on the two eggs, 

 so there is little doubt that it is the male of this species that 

 undertakes the duty of incubation. 



Sir, — In my Catalogue of the Parrots (p. 302) I have 

 mentioned in a footnote Chrysotis hecki (Rchnw.), and given 

 as a description a translation of Reichenow's original one 

 (Journ. f. Orn. 1891, p. 211). As I was not autoptically 

 acquainted with this bird, the only remark I made about it 

 was that the dull rose tinge of the feathers of the pileum 

 and nape seemed to ally this species to C. lilacina (Less.) 

 from Guayaquil. 



