BROWN QUAIL. 227 



the upper-surface, as well as the coarser black markings, distinguish the female 

 from the male. 



Younger male birds closely resemble the females, but are everywhere more 

 coarsely barred below, and mottled above with bars of black on the back and wings. 



Sometimes in very old birds the cross-bars of the chest and breast are reduced 

 to a very small wavy line, and a vinous colour pervades the under-surface. 



The adult females are much more coarsely blotched with black spots, more 

 thickly barred below and with more distinct white shaft-streaks. 



Nestling. Chestnut-red above, with black bars on the back and wings ; two 

 chestnut patches on the head divided by a white line from the middle of the crown 

 to the hind -neck, each of these patches is margined on the inner side with black ; 

 a black line from the base of the bill to the middle of the crown ; a white line on 

 each side of this black streak from the base of the bill over and behind the eye ; a 

 black line immediately above the eye and a second immediately below it ; under- 

 surface of the body whitish. 



Nest. A hollow in the ground, under the shelter of a tuft of grass or rushes, 

 lined with a few dead grass stems and leaves. 



Eggs. Seven to eleven ; roundish in form, sharply compressed at one end ; 

 texture, somewhat coarse and strong ; surface glossy ; colour sometimes of a 

 uniform dull white, occasionally showing a perceptible bluish tone, but more fre- 

 quently more or less finely freckled with olive or light brown. The markings when 

 fresh may be removed by moisture ; axis 29-32 mm., diameter 22-23 mm. 



Breeding-season. October to February. 



Incubation-period. (In captivity) twenty days. 



Distribution and forms. Throughout Australia and Tasmania, and on some 

 of the Moluccas. A very variable species, seven subspecies being named, as follows : 

 Ypsilophorus ypsilophorus ypsilophorus (Bosc) from Tasmania ; Y. p. australis 

 (Latham) from New South Wales, Victoria and South Queensland, smaller and 

 lighter ; Y. p. queenslandicus (Mathews) from Cape York, Queensland, a more 

 reddish form, especially below ; Y. p. cervinus (Gould) from Northern Territory, 

 a smaller form of more delicate sandy and buff shade ; Y. p. melvillensis (Mathews) 

 from Melville Island, still smaller but darker than preceding ; Y. p. rogersi (Mathews) 

 from the coastal districts of the North-west, much darker than the last named ; and 

 Y. p. mungi (Mathews) from the interior of the North-west, a pallid desert form ; 

 while the South-west and South Australian race may bear Gould's name Y. a. 

 sordidus, given to an aberration. 



Genus EXCALFACTORIA. 



Excalfactoria Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLIL, p. 881, May 1856. 

 Type (by tautonymy) : Tetrao chinensis Linne. 



Compsortyx Heine und Reichenow, Nomencl. Mus. Hem., p. 292, (pref. Sept.) 1890. New 

 name for Excalfactoria Bonaparte. 



Smallest Galline birds with short bills, short rounded wings, very short tail 

 and short legs and feet. 



The bill is similarly formed but is much less conical, narrower and longer in 

 proportion to depth. The wing is short and rounded, like that of Ypsilophorus, 

 the first five primaries subequal and longest and the secondaries long, reaching to 

 the eighth primary and not much shorter than the longest ones. The tail is very 

 short, about one-third the length of the wing, the feathers eight only and very soft, 

 entirely hidden by the tail-coverts, which are longer, both the upper and under. 

 The legs and feet are of the same nature in every detail as in the preceding genus. 



Coloration : the sexes very different ; the female as in the other Quail forms, 

 streaked above, more or less barred below, but the male has developed a beautiful 

 more or less uniform coloration, black above, breast slate, abdomen chestnut. 



Q2 



