PAINTED QUAIL. 231 



below pale grey ; bill, distal portion brown, basal part yellow ; iris greyish-brown ; 

 tarsi and toes dull yellow. Total length 160 mm. ; culmen 14, wing 80, tail 25, 

 tarsus 21. 



Adult male. Smaller than the female but similar in plumage, with less chestnut 

 on the upper-surface, and less vinous -chestnut on the neck ; the inner secondaries 

 without any chestnut, but mottled with black and ochreous-buff vermiculations. 

 Bill yellow, the distal half and the tip of the lower mandible brown ; iris white ; 

 feet yellow. Total length 135 mm. ; culmen 12, wing 78, tail 20, tarsus 17. 

 Immature. Very similar to the adult. 

 Nestling. Very like those of the next species. 



Nest. A scantily grass-lined hollow in the ground, sheltered by a convenient 

 tuft of grass or low bush. 



Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour very pale slaty -grey, almost entirely hidden 

 by brown spots, intermixed with larger blotches of dark slaty -grey ; surface smooth 

 and very glossy ; axis 25 mm., diameter 19. 



These eggs can easily be distinguished from those of T. velox by being much 

 darker and the surface of the shell bright and glossy. 

 Breeding -season. October to January. 



Distribution and forms. From India through the Moluccas and New Guinea to 

 Northern Australia, the only member of the family in Australia which has an 

 extra-limital distribution. The extra-limital forms have been insufficiently studied 

 to diagnose correctly their subspecific differences, but three fairly well-marked 

 subspecies occur in Australia, as : T. m. maculosa (Temminck) from New South Wales 

 and South Queensland (of which H. melanotus Gould is a synonym) ; T. m. pseutes 

 Mathews from North-west Australia, with a well-marked fulvous superciliary stripe 

 and the fulvous under coloration more extensive and uniform ; and T. m. yorki 

 Mathews from North Queensland, a much paler form than the preceding. 



Genus MARIANORNIS. 



Marianornis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 5, p. 128, Dec. 28th, 1917. Type 

 (by original designation) : Perdix varia Latham. 



Larger Turnices with longer and stouter bills, short wings, tail, and legs and 

 feet. The bill is formed as in the last named but is much longer and stouter, and 

 the wings, legs and feet are also similar ; the tail is longer, more than one-third the 

 length of the wing, the feathers a little stronger than in the preceding. The legs 

 are also a little shorter proportionately, being less than one-fourth the length of the 

 wing, whereas in the preceding they are more. 



Coloration, general coloration above chestnut, streaked with black, white and 

 grey ; under-surface, chin and abdomen whitish, breast with bold black marking ; 

 sexes similarly coloured, males duller and smaller. 



157. Marianornis varius. PAINTED QUAIL. 



Gould, Vol. V., pis. 82-3 (pt. xxi.), Dec. 1st, 1845. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 1, pi. 15, Oct. 31st, 

 1910. 



Perdix varia Latham, Index Ornith. Suppl., p. LXIII., 1801, after May 30th : (Sydney), New 

 South Wales, based on Watling drawing No. 227. 



Hemipodius scintillans Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1845, p. 62, Sept. : Houtman's 

 Abrolhos, West Australia. 



Turnix varia stirlingi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIIL, p. 181, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Stirling 

 Range, South-west Australia. 



Turnix varia subminuta Mathews, ib. : Cooktown, North Queensland. 

 DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally. Tasmania. 



Adult female. General colour above chestnut, varied with black and grey, and 

 linearly streaked with white. Mantle and back chestnut, with a few bars or spots of 



