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Mr. D. Seth-Smith,



with tail more or less erected and crop extended and carried

close to the ground. Having run round him once or twice she

stands facing him at a distance of perhaps a foot or eighteen

inches and commences ‘ booming ’ or * cooing’ to him like a cock

pigeon, at the same time stamping and scratching with her feet,

while the male responds with a faint clucking note.” The

“booming” of the female is a very curious proceeding, and I

have thought it worth while to have a text figure prepared from

a photograph I secured of the female in the act of uttering this

curious sound. She seems to puff out not only her crop but

also the upper back, so that the whole upper part of the body

represents a miniature balloon.



FEMALE TURNIX VARIA “ BOOMING.”



On May the 20th the nest was beautifully arched over and

completed, and on the following day the first egg was laid about

11 a.m. A second followed the next morning at 9.15 a.111., and

at 9.30 a.m. the male went onto the nest and busied himself in re¬

arranging the hay dome, but did not appear to sit down on the

eggs. The third egg was laid on the 23rd, between 7.30 and

8.30 a.m., and a fourth the next day, probably about the same

time. The male was on the nest most of the day of the 24th, but

apparently did not commence to sit properly until the 25th, on

which day a fifth egg was laid. Four is the usual number of

eggs to a clutch in the case of all the Turnices, but some writers



