THE



311



Hvicultural /Hbaga3tne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. II. — NO. 11 .—All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER 1904



SOME NOTES ON THE PAINTED QUAILS.


Excalfactoria .


There are few birds which give me more pleasure as an

aviculturist than the tiny Painted Quails; their small size, the

readiness with which they become tame, the free way in which

they reproduce their kind in captivity, and the ease with which

the young may be reared, all commend these beautiful little birds

to the consideration of aviculturists.


I obtained my first pair of the Common Painted Quail,

E. chineiisis, in the autumn of 1897, and have never been without

examples since, and I have also kept and bred the Australasian

form, E. lineata, so perhaps a few notes on these birds may not

be out of place.


The genus Excalfactoria contains, according to Dr. Sharpe’s

Hand List , four species. All are very small birds, about five

inches in length. The tail is composed of only eight very short

feathers, which are entirely hidden by the upper tail-coverts.

The sexes are entirely different in plumage, and the males are

decidedly beautiful.


The common species, E. ckinensis, ranges throughout the

Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, and the Indo-Chinese countries. It

is also found in the islands of Formosa, Celebes and Ternate.

This species is well known to most of my readers, and those

who do not know it should refer to Vol. IV. (First series) p. 1,



