8 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
to attract sportsmen, the Painted Quail hold their 
own, and the low drumming " coo," so hard to locate 
with precision, is still to be heard in the spring of 
the year in many a bit of woodland in this district. 
They are especially partial to patches of cutting-grass 
among gum-scrub, frequenting in general poor, 
rocky, and hilly timbered country. 
The first Painted Quail (or Pepper Quail, as we called 
it as boys, from its finely freckled eggs) I ever shot 
rose whirring from a belt of bush grass near Marcus 
Hill, and at various times I have seen birds at Batesford 
and Maude ; in fact they will settle in any bit of 
suitable country if not molested. They still breed 
every year at the Dog Rocks, laying as a rule four 
eggs in a very slight leaf-lined depression at the 
base of a grass-tuft. Curiously enough, the only nest 
I ever found contained but one egg instead of the 
usual complement, and that one was hard-set. 
September is about the height of the breeding-season. 
Mr. Mulder tells me that he noted a Painted 
Quail in his garden at Highton on April 12th, 1902. 
Though the ground was devoid of cover and the 
observer in full view, the Quail came up to within 
a few yards of him, picking up a seed now and then, 
and recalling by its actions a Guinea-fowl. It presently 
lay on the ground among dead leaves and scratched 
in them, then got up and appeared to be eating some 
nightshade berries from a small bush. 
