30 Mr. D. Srth-Smith,


pectoralis and considerably darker in colour, especially on the

underparts.


At one time, and that not so very long ago, this fine quail

was very abundant in New Zealand, especially in the South

Island, but with the advent of settlers with their marauding

domestic animals, their guns and their bush fires, the quail

commenced to vanish, and when it became noised abroad that it

was becoming rare, the collector, as is his wont, stepped in to

finish the work of extermination, and we are told that a single

skin of a female was sold, within recent years, for seventy-five

pounds.


If only a few pairs of the quails had been taken alive the

species could have been kept going by breeding it in captivity.

There is little doubt that it would have bred in captivity as

readily as the other species of the genus, and probably two broods

a year, of from five to ten birds each could have been reared from

each pair kept.



THE MANAGEMENT AND REARING OF QUAILS

IN CAPTIVITY.


To keep quails of the group we are now considering

successfully they must have a fairly large run which is well

turfed and in which cover is provided by low bushes or bundles

of brushwood. Part of their enclosure should also be roofed

over and sanded, so as to provide a place for dusting and scratch-

ing. My own aviary, in which no less than three species of

Cotumix have lived together and reared broods during the past

summer measures about 42 feet by 21 feet, and is turfed and

planted with various trees and shrubs and has a pond in the

centre, and the birds have access to a dry well-lighted shed.

The aviary is tenanted by many birds, including Ground Doves

(Geophaps), besides the quails and two species of Turnix. It is

therefore not necessary that each pair of quails, in order to breed

successfully, should have a place to themselves.


As the nesting season approaches the males are apt to

drive one another about, but no serious battles are likely to take

place and, in the case of the three species which I have had

under observation during the past summer, no cross-breeding



