On Rearing Hemipodes by Hand from the Egg. 303


of the jaw, which is capped by an " egg-tooth," (T), of a peculiar

type and the curiously hollow edge of the under jaw.


Fig. 4. Beak of an adult Calopsittacus novce-hollandice to

compare with that of the nestling.



ON REARING HEMIPODES BY HAND FROM


THE EGG.

By D. Seth-Smith, M.B.O.U.


In the Avicultural Magazine for August 1905 I described

the rearing in my aviary of young of the Australian Varied

Hemipode or Bustard Quail, Ttirnix varia.


It will be remembered that in this interesting group of

birds the female is larger and more brightly coloured than the

male. She does the courting and he hatches and rears the young.

The pair that bred so successfully in 1905 made no attempt to

repeat the process in the following year, though the female

frequently displayed to her mate. This year, however, they

seemed inclined to nest. A nest was made of hay in a corner of

the inner part of the aviary in May. Three eggs were laid and

the male duly incubated them, but to no purpose; they were

unfertile. Soon after I bad removed the eggs another clutch of

three was laid, but the male declined to repeat the process

of incubation. Seeing that he refused to sit I took the eggs and

placed them in an incubator with very little hope of their hatch-

ing, as the last clutch were all clear. However on the fourteenth

day (June 26th) a lively and vigorous chick made its appearance

and I noticed a second egg was chipped. This I left until the

following morning when, finding the young bird still unable to

leave the shell, I gently helped it out. It seemed very weak, but

soon became as strong as the other.


The question that now presented itself was as to how the

5'oung were to be reared ? They were put in a small run with their

father who ought to have brooded them, but he refused to have

anything to do with them. I determined therefore to attempt to

hand-feed them, knowing full well that I was letting myselfin

for a difficult and tedious task.



