The Importance of Aviculture. 669 



When the first male had hatched and partly reared his 

 brood the female was allowed to go hack to him, and she 

 very soon commenced to lay again and, when the cock began 

 to sit, I again let her into the aviary in which was the new 

 male ; this was on July 28th. He had now become tamer, and 

 his bill, which was dull lead colour when he arrived, had turned 

 red, a sign of maturity. By August 10th the female had laid 

 five eggs and this male commenced to sit, and on September 

 1st hatched a brood of four. Again the female went back 

 to the first male and laid another clutch of six eggs. 



These experiments prove conclusively, I think, that this 

 species also is polyandrous, and add to our knowledge of 

 these curious birds. 



Polyandry answers extremely well in cases in which the 

 male undertakes incubation and the rearing of the young, 

 and I am not at all sure that it is not the rule amongst the 

 Hemipodes, as some experiments I have made in the breeding 

 of two species of this family point to the conclusion that this 

 may be the case. 



As every one is aware in the Turnicidœ the females are, 

 in almost every case, larger and more brilliantly coloured 

 than the males, and it was known that the males took upon 

 themselves at least the greater part of the task of incubation, 

 but, probably, no one in this country had, prior to the year 

 1903, witnessed the breeding habits of any species of Turnix, 

 so it maybe worth while to recount some observations I have 

 made on these birds, two species of which have successfully 

 bred in my aviaries. 



In October, 1902, I was fortunate enough to obtain a pair 

 of the Indian Turnix tanM. In this species the female, when 

 in full breeding colour, possesses a well-defined reddish collar 

 at the back of her neck, which is lacking in the male, and it 

 was supposed, and has been stated by the latest authorities, 

 that this character denoted maturity, and when once attained 

 was permanent, in other words, that no seasonal changes 

 took place in these birds. Indeed, an examination of the 

 series in the British Museum would lead one to this conclusion, 

 for several female specimens, lacking the red collar, were 

 assumed by the collectors to be immature, and are so 

 labelled. 



