35 



The belief that this species yet survived, resting on apparently good evidence, was destined to 

 end in disappointment. Mr. Cheeseman kindly gave me one of these eggs, and I saw at a glance 

 that it was not that of our New Zealand Quail, but of Sijnoecus australis, the Brown Quail of 

 Australia, which has been introduced into New Zealand, and is now extremely plentiful in all 

 parts of the country. 



The migration of this species from the mainland to the Three Kings is a very curious fact, 

 and illustrates the manner in which species become naturally dispersed; for it is impossible to 

 suggest any valid reason why this small Quail should have undertaken a voluntary sea voyage in 

 order to establish a new home for itself, unless, indeed, it would be to escape the instinctively 

 ravages of the stoats and weasels introduced into New Zealand by a misguided G-overnment ! 

 Whether so designed or not, the location at the Three Kings would furnish them with a sanctuary 

 in this respect. 



Eef erring to the three specimens in my collection received from Mr. A. C. Purdie, that 

 gentleman wrote to me : — " They were obtained on a small island of about twenty acres in Blue 

 Skin Bay about the year 1867 or 1868." The two specimens in my son's collection represent the 

 adult and the young male. The former of these was shot by Major Mair in the Whangarei district, 

 in the year 1860, being the last known specimen killed in the North Island; the other was 

 obtained by myself, near Kaiapoi, South Island, in the summer of the same year. 



The female of this species is very similar in appearance to that of the introduced Australian 

 Quail, SynceciLs australis, now, as already mentioned, very numerous in New Zealand ; and I have 

 had specimens sent me from all parts of the Colony for identification ; the owner in every case 

 believing that a prize had been secured. Although, however, very much alike in general ap- 

 pearance, on placing the two kinds side by side the differences of plumage are very manifest. 

 The most noteworthy points are these : in the Australian bird the plumage of the under 

 surface — and particularly that of the sides — is marked with transverse arrow-head bars of 

 brownish black ; in the New Zealand bird the markings are of a horse-shoe form, with pale 

 centres. The warm fawn colour, so conspicuous in the under parts of the Australian bird, is 

 absent in the New Zealand species, in which the ground colours are pale brown and white. The 

 wash of grey in the plumage of the upper surface which distinguishes the former — especially in 

 the young state — is absent from the latter. In the Australian bird the legs are yellow or straw- 

 coloured ; in the New Zealand species they are brown. On comparing the two birds there are 

 other minor differences, very noticeable in their general effect but difficult to define or describe. 



Three beautiful specimens of Coturnix nov<z-zealandice from the late Sir William Jardine's 

 collection — on its dispersal in 1886 — found their way into the Natural History Museum of the 

 Cambridge University, where there is also a good series of the eggs of this species. Of the latter 

 there are several examples in the possession of Mr. Bichard D. Thomas, of Christchurch, N.Z. 



