666 D. Seth-Smith: 



for their young in this way, but had he not witnessed the 

 whole proceeding in his aviaries he would never have under- 

 stood what it meant, but would have considered the birds to 

 have been demented and trying to dust themselves in muddy 

 water when an unlimited expanse of dusting ground 

 surrounded them on every side. Another very extraordinary 

 thing about these Sand-Grouse is that the male has no less 

 than four different plumages. There is first the nestling 

 plumage, which is assumed direct from the down ; this being 

 moulted in the autumn into a winter plumage. Then in the 

 very early spring this is changed into the breeding plumage, 

 and in the late summer the male puts on an eclipse plumage 

 which closely resembles that of the female. 



Again, Mr. Meade- Waldo was the first aviculturist to 

 breed the beautiful little Chinese Painted Quail (Excal- 

 factoria chinensis, in captivity, rearing a brood of seven in 

 1898. He was able to note that the period of incubation 

 was twenty-one days, 1 the young were able to fly when about 

 ten days old, and at five weeks had assumed their full 

 adult plumage. I succeeded in breeding this species the 

 following year, and since that time have reared one or 

 more broods every year, and I have also succeeded in 

 breeding the Australasian Excalfactoria lineata. This is 

 generally regarded as merely a subspecies, or slightly darker 

 race of the typical form, but it differs somewhat in its 

 habits from E. chinensis, and when the young were hatched 

 I noticed an extraordinary difference in their appearance 

 from those of the typical form, for whereas the latter are 

 bufnsh brown with darker brown stripes, those of the 

 Australasian birds are almost entirely black. This differ- 

 ence had never, I believe, been noticed before, but it seems 

 to me to be an important one, and such differences should, I 

 think, be taken into account when determining the validity 

 or otherwise of a species. I found that these two forms 

 bred quite freely with one another, and the progeny was 

 perfectly fertile. 



1 The period, however, undoubtedly varies somewhat according to the 

 temperature of the weather, and I have known it to be completed in nineteen 

 days. Even this is long for so small a species, considering that the larger 

 forms, such as Coturnix deiegorguel and G. pectoralis, complete their incubation 

 in from sixteen to eighteen days. — Ävic. Mag. (November, 1906), D. S.-S. 



