THE



295



Hvtcultural /Hba$a3tne t


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Neiv Seiies.—MOL. III. — NO. 10 .—All rights reserved. AUGUST, 1905.



ON THE BREEDING OF TURNIX VARIA.


By D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


In the July number of this Journal for 1903 I recorded the

successful breeding in my aviaries of the Indian Turnix tanki.

the first of the Hemipodes, so far as I am aware, to be bred in

this country; * and I now have the satisfaction of recording a

like success with the fine Australian species, Turnix varia -the

Varied or Variegated Bustard Quail of some writers, the Painted

or Dotterel Quail of the Australian Colonists.


The adult female in this species, as in almost all of the

Hemipodes, is considerably larger than the male and her plu¬

mage is beautifully marked. The feathers of the back are mostly

black, edged with whitish and barred with brown ; the back of

the neck bright chestnut, which forms into a conspicuous patch

at each side of the nape ; the wing coverts barred and spotted

with black, buff and chestnut; sides of face, throat, and eyebrow-

stripes white ; the feathers of the chest grey with whitish spots ;

breast and abdomen buffish. The iris bright red. Total length

about seven-and-a-half inches. The male is a little over six

inches in length and his plumage is much duller. The patches

of chestnut at the sides of the neck are dull and incon¬

spicuous, and the chest is buff spotted with grey.


The Varied Turnix inhabits practically the whole of the

Australian Continent and Tasmania, the majority arriving in the

southern parts about September and leaving for the warmer

portions of the Continent in March.



* Two species— T. lepurana and T. nigricollis—have been bred in Germany as recorded

in this Magazine for April and May 1905 (pp. 195-203, and 217-222).



