296



Mr. D. Setii-Smith,



Gould writes “Among the game birds of Australia the

Varied Turnix plays a rather important part, for although its

flesh is not so good for the table as that of the little Partridge

and Quail, Synoicus australis and Coturiiix pectoralis, it is a bird

which is not to be despised when the game-bag is emptied at the

end of a day’s sport, for it forms an acceptable variety to its con¬

tents. Although it does not actually associate with either of the

birds mentioned above, it is often found in the same districts,

and all three species may be procured in the course of a

morning’s walk in many parts of New South Wales, Victoria,

and South Australia, where it frequents sterile stony ridges,

interspersed with scrubby trees and moderately thick grass.


“ It is also very common in all parts of Tasmania suitable

to its habits, hills of moderate elevation and of a dry stony

character being the localities preferred ; it is also numerous on

the sandy and sterile islands in Bass’s Straits.


“ It runs remarkably quickly, and when flushed flies low,

its pointed wings giving it much the appearance of a Snipe or

a Sandpiper. The breeding - season commences in August or

September and terminates in January, during which period at

least two broods are reared. The eggs are invariably four in

number, and are either deposited on the bare ground or in a

slightly constructed nest of grasses, placed in some shallow

depression, not unfrequently under the lea of a stone or at the

foot of a tuft of grass.”


Mr. A. J. Campbell * informs us that, although found in

the same places as other Quails it is more local and prefers sandy

and somewhat sterile tracts. It runs much upon the ground,

and when on the wing has a wavering flight and is difficult to

shoot. “ The breeding months are from September to February,

when two broods are probably reared. In Tasmania it is stated

that the chief months are October, November and December.”


On March 22nd last I secured a pair of these birds, just

arrived from Australia, which were the first and only specimens

I had ever had an opportunity of obtaining, as, although this

species has been represented in the Zoological Society’s collection

on two or three occasions, it is so rarely imported that I am



Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, p. 732.



