PLAIN WANDERER. 239 



Breeding -season. September to February. 



Distribution and forms. Restricted to Queensland and New South Wales. 

 No subspecies recognised at present, though more material may necessitate the 

 reinstatement of Mathews's C. m. goweri for the Northern form. 



FAMILY PEDIONOMID^E. 



This monotypic family, endemic to Australia, resembles in superficies the 

 preceding, the most notable feature being the presence of a long hind-toe missing 

 in the former. The bill is somewhat similar but the feathering is softer. Skeletal 

 details are lacking for comparison and the pterylosis needs study. In this family 

 the wing is aquincubital, while it is quincubital in the Turnicidse, as far as is known. 

 The leg muscle formula is ABXY-f and both carotids are present, whereas in Turnix 

 and its allies the left carotid only occurs. Gadow concluded from an anatomical 

 examination that ornithologists who studied superficial features had been clever in 

 guessing approximately its systematic position, which otherwise he would have 

 been unable to determine. 



Genus PEDIONOMUS. 



Pedionomus Gould, Birds Austr., pt. I., Dec. 1st, 1840. Type (by monotypy) : P. torquatus 



Gould. 



Turnicigralla Des Murs, Rev. Zool., Aug. 1845, p. 276, Sept. New name for Pedionomus 



Gould. 



Long-legged Turnices with a hind -toe. 



The bill is long and thin, somewhat recalling that of Turnix (maculosa) but 

 with the tip shorter and the nasal groove longer ; the feathers of the fore-head 

 advancing on the culmen ridge ; the nasal apertures long and narrow slits, 

 membranous operculum present and generally as in Turnix. The wing is rounded 

 with the primaries rather soft, the first five primaries subequal and longest ; the 

 inner secondaries very soft and extensive, reaching to the tips of the primaries. 

 The legs are long, the tibia exposed for about one-third the length of the tarsus ; 

 the tarsus is half as long again as the culmen and is transversely scaled in front and 

 behind ; the toes are long, the middle toe longest but shorter than the tarsus, the 

 inner and outer shorter and subequal, the hind-toe short but prominent ; the claws 

 sharp. Plumage soft. 



Coloration generally freckling sandy -rufous with black, with a black and white 

 collar and a rufous chest-band. Female larger than males and brighter coloured. 



163. Pedionomus torquatus. PLAIN WANDERER. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 80 (pt. i.), Dec. 1st, 1840. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 2, pi. 20, Jan. 31st, 1911. 



Pedionomus torquatus Gould, Birds Austr., pt. I., Dec. 1st* 1840 : plains near Adelaide, 



South Australia. 



Pedionomus microurus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 20, Nov. : South Australia 



(interior). 



Turnicigralla gouldiana Des Murs, Rev. Zool., Aug. 1845, p. 276, Sept. New name for 



P. torquatus Gould. 



Turnicigralla macroura Des Murs, ib. : Error for P. microurus Gould. 



Pedionomus torquatus goulburni Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 3, p. 53, April 7th, 



1916 : Goulburn, New South Wales. 



DISTRIBUTION. Adjoining parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia ; and 

 north-west of New South Wales. 



Adult female. General colour above sandy-rufous, everywhere barred and 

 vermiculated with narrow lines of black, including the head, back, scapulars, upper 



