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Adult female. In the female there is no rufous colour on the face or throat; the upper surface is 

 light ferruginous brown mixed with fulvous, and handsomely varied with black ; the lanceolate stripes 

 are yellowish white, changing to fulvous on the longer secondaries and on the lower part of the back; 

 the throat, fore neck, sides, and flanks ferruginous brown, and the breast fulvous white, all more or less 

 varied with black ; on the neck and breast each feather is marked near the tip with a broad crescent, 

 and on the webs with irregular spots of brownish black ; the feathers covering the sides, and the long 

 feathers overlapping the thighs, have a broad stripe of white down the shaft and are streaked and 

 marbled on both webs with black ; the abdomen is white, the sides fulvous and the under tail-coverts 

 dark fulvous varied with black. The female is, moreover, slightly larger than the male in all its 

 proportions. 



Young male. In the young male the prevailing colour of the upper surface more nearly approaches that of 

 the adult female. The rufous colouring on the cheeks and throat is very pale, and the lunate marks 

 are less distinct than in the adult. The plumage of the underparts is largely washed with fulvous, and 

 the dark crescents are broader and more conspicuous. 



Young female. The only perceptible difference in the markings of the young female is that the dark 

 crescents on the under surface are better defined and less blotched than in the adult bird. In my collec- 

 tion there are two young females from the same nest, in one of which the prevailing tint of the plumage 

 resembles that of the adult female, while in the other it approaches very near to that of the adult male. 



Very young state. Crown of the head light fulvous varied with dark brown ; ear-spots black ; back and 

 upper surface of wings yellowish brown, with dull black markings, each feather with a lanceolate stripe 

 of fulvous white down the centre ; throat and foreneck buffy white ; breast and underparts pale buff, 

 each feather marked near the tip with two converging elongate spots of a dull black colour. Bill, tarsi, 

 and toes pale brown. 



Obs. A beautiful male specimen obtained many years ago at Whangarei, in the North Island, and presented 

 to me by Major Mair, differs from all my South-Island examples in having the whole of the plumage 

 darker, the breast being almost entirely brownish black, relieved only by a few touches of fulvous white ; 

 the rufous colour on the face and throat is brighter, the lanceolate markings on the upper surface are 

 very distinct, and the abdomen is fulvous. 



Note. Our drawing of the male is from a specimen obtained by Mr. French in Canterbury more than twelve 

 years ago, and now in the possession of George Dawson Rowley, Esq., at Brighton. The figure of the 

 female is from a specimen belonging to the Marquis of Huntley. 



This handsome species — the only indigenous representative in New Zealand of the order Gallins — 

 is now on the verge of extinction. In the early days of the colony it was excessively ahundant in 

 all the open country, and especially on the grass-covered downs of the South Island. The first 

 settlers, who carried with them from the old country their traditional love of sport, enjoyed some 

 excellent Quail-shooting for several years ; and it is matter of local history that Sir D. Monro and 

 Major Kichmond, in 1848, shot as many as forty-three brace in the course of a single day within 

 a few miles of what is now the city of Nelson : while a Canterbury writer has recorded that 

 " in the early days, on the plains near Selwyn, a bag of twenty brace of Quail was not looked 

 upon as extraordinary sport for a day's shooting." But, partly owing to the introduction of dogs, 



