THE SILVER QUAIL. 109 



They do not pack, like the common bird, but, like the 

 scrub quail, are always found in pairs or families. The 

 note of the male bird much resembles the cooing of a 

 pigeon, but is not so loud, and always repeated twice 

 quickly ; and this monotonous call may be heard in the 

 forest throughout the whole summer's night. It is more 

 common than the scrub quail, and when the young birds 

 are fliers, a man has no trouble to kill five or six couple ; 

 for when flushed, they soon drop again. The wings are 

 long and pointed, unlike the full round wing of the two 

 last species. 



The Little Nuthatch Quail was a rare and uncertain 

 visitant to our district, but is, I believe, the common 

 quail on the Adelaide side. I always found them in the 

 heather with us, singly or in pairs, and I scarcely ever 

 killed more than a couple in the day. Like all other 

 partial migrants, they were much commoner with us in 

 some years than others ; but it certainly was a rare bird 

 in our district. It is not so large as the common quail, 

 of a uniform yellowish stone-colour, mottled with black 

 and white ; the beak large, and unlike any of the others 

 in shape ; the legs yellow, and the toes three in number ; 

 and, from the pointed wing, I consider it closely allied 

 to the painted quail. What few came into our parts 

 appeared to breed with us ; and if so, they left the earliest 

 of any. 



The Silver Quail was very rare with us, and I only saw 

 two examples, both skins, and both killed on the plains 

 near Melbourne. It appears to be much like the painted 



