LITTLE QUAIL. 235 



yellow ; feet yellow ; bill brown. Total length 162 mm. ; culmen 16, wing 85, 

 tail 37, tarsus 19. 



Adult male. Differs from the female chiefly in being smaller ; and the grey 

 of the breast being mixed with buff. Total length 158 mm. ; culmen 15, wing 79, 

 tail 41, tarsus 21. 



Immature. Apparently similar to the adult. 



Nestling. Appears to be undescribed. 



Nest. A depression beneath a tussock of grass or where the grass grows long, 

 especially in the neighbourhood of water. 



Eggs. Clutch, four ; rounded, glossy and finely pitted ; they are greenish- 

 white, and some are boldly speckled with very dark brown, or almost black markings, 

 especially on the larger end, while others have much smaller faint spots of purplish- 

 brown. The markings beneath the surface appear giey. The eggs vary somewhat 

 in size and measurement. Dimensions 23-26 mm. by 19-21. 



Breeding-season. January. 



Distribution and forms. Restricted to North-west Australia and Northern 

 Territory. The forms are not yet understood. Gould described the species from 

 Port Essington, Northern Territory, and his description and measurements apply to 

 the smaller race, and probably A. c. alligator (Mathews) from the South Alligator 

 River will prove synonymous as the Melville Island race, A. c. melvillensis (Mathews) 

 is larger and resembles A. c. magnifica (Mathews) from North-west Australia but is 

 darker though of the same size. There seems to be individual as well as sexual 

 variation and the plumage changes do not appear to be understood. 



Genus ALPHATURNIA. 



Alphaturnia Mathews, Austral Ay. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 5, p. 112, Sept. 24th, 1914. Type (by 

 original designation) : Hemipodius velox Gould. 



Smallest Turnices with stout "parrot-like" bills, short wings, shorter tails and 

 short legs and feet. The bill is formed like that of the preceding genus but is even 

 more arched and deeper, the lower mandible even stronger. The wing is like that 

 of the preceding genus, the inner secondaries long, reaching to the tips of the 

 primaries. The tail is similar, but only about one-third the length of the wing, and 

 less than twice the length of the tarsus. The tarsus is short and is less than one 

 and a half times the length of the culmen. 



Coloration similar to that of the preceding generally, the male smaller and 

 duller than the female. 



160. Alphaturnia velox. LITTLE QUAIL. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 87 (pt. ii.), March 1st, 1841. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 1, pi. 19, Oct. 31st, 

 1910. 



Hemipodius velox Gould, Birds Austr., pt. n., March 1st, 1841 : Yarrundi, Upper Hunter 



River, New South Wales. 



Turnix leucogaster North, Ibis, July 1st, 1895, p. 342 : Davenport Creek, Central Australia. 



Turnix velox vinotincta Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 182, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Mungi, 



North-west Australia (interior). 



Turnix velox picturata Mathews, ib. : Derby, North-west Australia (coast). 



DISTRIBUTION. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, North-west 

 Australia. 



Adult female. General colour above pale vinous, becoming darker on the back 

 and scapulars, where the feathers incline to chestnut, barred with black, a sub- 

 marginal line of black and edged with white, which gives a streaked appearance ; 

 lesser and median wing-coverts pale vinous with a few dark spots here and there ; 



