TUBNIX. 285 



Family TURNICIDiE. 



Genus TURNIX, BonnaUm. 



TURNIX MELA::p^OGASTER, Gould. 

 Black-breasted TTirnix. 

 OouW, Handbk. Bds. Amt., Vol. ii., sp. 479, p. 178. 23Zr J/. 

 This bird is found breeding in the eastern portions of 

 Queensland. The eggs, three or four in number for a sitting are 

 placed in a slight depression beside a tuft of grass. A specimen 

 in the Australian Museum Collection taken by Mr. Geo. Masters, 

 is of a pale buffy-white ground colour, minutely and thickly 

 freckled all over with light reddish-brown ; towards the larger 

 apex are bold blotches and spots of chestnut-brown, purplish-grey, 

 and inky-black, and a few indistinct superimposed markings of 

 slaty-lilac. Long axis 1-12 inch; short axis 0'9 inch. 



Two specimens from a sitting of three, taken by Mr. George 

 Barnard, of Coomooboolaroo, Queensland, measure as follows : — 

 length (A) M8 x 0-9 inch ; (B) M6 x 0-91 inch. 



B^db. Wide Bay District, Dawson River, New South Wales. 

 (^Ramsay) 



TURNIX VARITJS, Latham. 

 Varied Turnix. 

 Gould, Handhh. Bds. Aust., Vol. ii., sp. 480, p. 179. 



This bird is found all over the eastern and southern portions of 

 Australia, and the whole of Tasmania, and is the commonest 

 species we have of the genus. Its eggs are usually laid in a 

 slight cavity lined with dried grasses, close to a tuft of grass. 

 Eggs four in number for a sitting, in form swollen ovals, slightly 

 pointed at the smaller end, of a buffy-white ground colour thickly 

 freckled and minutely spotted all over with reddish-chestnut, 

 wood-brown and slaty-grey, in some instances the markings are 

 larger and very much darker towards the larger apex, but never 



