236 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



bastard -wing and primary -coverts blackish ; primary-quills dark brown, the three 

 outer ones margined with buffy-white on the outer webs, the remainder mottled 

 with sandy-buff on the outer edges ; innermost secondaries and tail-feathers similar 

 to the back ; head with a dotted line of black on each side of the crown ; sides of 

 the face, neck, and body pale vinous ; chin, throat, middle of the abodinen, flanks, 

 and under tail-coverts white, more or less tinged with sandy-rufous ; axillaries 

 grey ; under wing-coverts buffy-white ; under aspect of quills pearl-grey ; bill, 

 culmen and tip leaden-brown, remainder leaden-blue ; iris yellowish-white ; tarsus 

 and feet fleshy-white. Total length 145 mm. ; culmen 13, wing 80, tail 28, 

 tarsus 16. 



Adult male. Distinguished from the female by its smaller size and more streaked 

 appearance above, the median line of white on the middle of the head, the white bars 

 on the sides of the neck, and the submarginal black lines on the side of the breast ; 

 -also by the more pure white of the abdomen. Soft parts similar to those given in 

 the female. Total length 140 mm. ; culmen 12, wing 75, tail 26, tarsus 15. 



Immature and Nestling of this common bird appear to be undescribed. 



Nest. Formed of grass placed in a hollow of the ground behind some 

 convenient tuft of grass. 



Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour bufnsh-white thickly spotted with slate- 

 grey, chestnut, and odd spots of purplish-brown ; surface with faint trace of gloss ; 

 axis 20 to 21 mm., diameter 16.5 to 17. 



Breeding -season. The usual breeding-season is from September to December, 

 but individuals may be found breeding practically all through the year. 



Distribution and forms. Through Australia, save the South-west and Tasmania. 

 Four subspecies are named : A. v. vdox (Gould) from New South Wales, Victoria and 

 South Australia ; A. v. leucogaster (North) a pallid form from Central Australia with 

 the lower-parts nearly all white ; A . v. picturata (Mathews) from North-west Australia 

 (coastal) much more rufous than the typical form both above and below ; and A. v. 

 vinotincta Mathews from the interior of the North-west, a much more pallid phase 

 with the flanks and abdomen pale rose tinged, not so white below as A. v. leucogaster, 

 but paler above. 



161. Alphaturnia pyrrhothorax. RED-CHESTED QUAIL. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 86 (pt. ii.), March 1st, 1841. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 1. pi. 18, Oct. Slat, 

 1910. 



Hemipodius pyrrhothorax Gould, Birds Austr., pt. n., March 1st, 1841 : Aberdeen, Upper 



Hunter River, New South Wales. 



Turnix pyrrothorax berneyi Mathews, Nov. Zool., VoL XVTIL, p. 182, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 



Parry's Creek, North-west Australia. 



Austroturnix pyrrothorax intermedia Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 3, p. 53, April 



7th, 1916 : Wyangarie, Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, North-west Australia, 

 South Australia. 



Adult female. General colour above, dark ashy-grey, varied with black in the 

 form of narrow vermiculated bars, with cross lines of dull rufous on many of the 

 feathers, several of which are edged with dull white, producing a slightly streaked 

 appearance ; these streaks more apparent on the margins of the scapulars, which 

 have black markings, and reddish and black vermiculations towards their ends ; 

 wing-coverts dull ashy-grey, with faint fulvescent edges ; the inner median and 

 greater coverts ruf escent-buff with a few black cross-bars ; bastard -wing and primary- 

 coverts blackish-brown, forming a wing patch ; quills dusky -brown, with very 

 narrow fulvescent margins, lighter on the four outer primaries, the first of which is 

 conspicuously margined with buffy-white, like the edge of the wing ; the secondaries 



