16 THE BIEDS OP AUSTRALIA 



Genus SyncBcus. 

 Tail with 10-12 feathers. Axillaries short and grey. 



The Brown Quail. 



Syncecus australis. 



Australia, Tasmania, South-eastern New Guinea. 



Feathers of male, upper portions reddish brown on sides, dull grey- 

 down middle, with a few fine mottlings of black; on underparts the buff 

 feathers are grey down the centre. The V-shaped black bars nearly 

 obsolete, sides of throat and head dull grey, tail feathers uniform grey. 

 In younger specimens, upper parts are mottled with black and barred 

 with rufous, and tail feathers black, barred with bufE. Tail has 10 

 (rarely 1,2) feathers, outer ones shorter than middle pair, tarsus without 

 spurs. Adult female has the black markings and patches on the upper 

 and underparts much coarser, and the shaft-stripes, which are much 

 wider than in the male, are pale buff. 



Nest and, eggs generally among rank vegetation and lined 

 with grass or similar herbage and usually in a slight hollow. 

 The eggs are from seven to twelve, strong and coarse, one end 

 being much larger than the other. The colour varies; in a dry 

 season in Northern Australia they are sometimes pure white, 

 but generally finely freckled with light-brown; those laid in 

 Tasmania and Southern Australia usually have the markings 

 bolder and darker; they measure from 1.12 x .87 to 1.18 x .97 

 inch. 



The Brown Quail, or Swamp-Quail, as Gould called them, 

 though much smaller birds, strongly resemble the true 

 Partridges in habits and economy. They move about in small 

 coveys, and when flushed fly a short distance and alight again. 

 They are genuine game birds, perhaps the most tempting to the 

 sportsman of all Australian birds. Pointers will easily locate 

 and stand to them. The flesh is excellent. Like the Partridge, 

 the bird sits exceedingly close. Tou must nearly step upon it 

 before it wiU rise from the nest. 



The plumage is exceedingly variable, and the question of 

 division into sub-species or races is an open one. Gould 

 described three other species, but most Australian ornithologists 

 include all the varieties under the same name. Gould's species 

 -were S.diemencn sis iTom Tasmania (also in the islands of Bass 

 Strait), larger and more varied in the markings of the upper 



