164 



evidence that this species is not less prolific than the other members of the extensive tribe to 

 which it belongs. 



Mr. Potts has furnished * the following interesting observations on the habits of this expiring 

 species : — 



" On the ground their movements are active ; sometimes they may be seen indulging in a 

 dust-bath, as they lie basking in the sun ; unless suddenly startled, they almost always maintain 

 that plump rounded appearance which characterizes several genera of the Tetraonidce. From 

 tolerably close observation, we are inclined to suppose that their organs of hearing are far less 

 acute than those of sight. They often give utterance to a low purring sound that one might 

 suppose to proceed from an insect rather than from a bird. The call is indulged in most 

 frequently during moist or wet weather ; it sounds something like " twit, twit, twit, twee-twit," 

 repeated several times in quick succession. In very stormy gusty weather these birds appear dull 

 and silent, secreting themselves among thick tussocks. When flushed, they do not rise perpen- 

 dicularly, but still very straight for a few feet from the ground. In confinement they are fond 

 of picking about amongst sand, and thrive well on soaked bread, grain of various kinds, and the 

 larvae of insects. The male is not an attentive mate at feeding-time ; and where several are kept 

 in the same enclosure, constant little bickerings take place without actual hostilities being 

 indulged in. The eggs require twenty-one days' incubation; and the chicks are most active 

 directly they emerge from the shell. They grow very rapidly ; and at about four months old 

 the young cannot very readily be distinguished from adult birds, either by contrast of size or 

 plumage." 



There is a specimen of the egg of this species (probably the only one in Europe) in Professor 

 Newton's fine collection at Cambridge ; and there are five examples in the Canterbury Museum 

 which exhibit a slight variation in form and a considerable difference in colour. Two of them 

 (presumably from the same nest) are of a regular oval form and of equal size, measuring 1-3 inch 

 in length by 1 in breadth ; these are of a pale yellowish-brown or buff colour, thickly marked 

 with umber, the dark colour often preponderating and having the appearance of daubs or smudges 

 on the outer surface of the shell. Two others (also exactly alike) are of a slightly larger size and 

 of a thicker or broader form ; these are of a dull cream-colour, sprinkled and minutely dotted all 

 over with blackish brown. In one of them the spots are confluent at the larger end, forming a 

 greyish-brown patch nearly half an inch hi diameter ; and in both the more conspicuous spots have 

 a light or faded centre. The fifth egg is smaller and more rounded than any of the rest ; it is of a 

 yellowish-white colour, covered all over, but more thickly at the ends, with small smudgy spots 

 of umber ; and it has likewise a more glossy appearance than the others. 



On comparing the eggs of this species with those of Coturnix pectoralis, of Australia, there 

 is a manifest difference, those of the latter bird being, as a rule, creamy white, with very obscure 

 surface-spots. 



* Trans. New-Zealand Inst. 1870, vol. iii. p. 93. 



