Nesting oj Quails. 
321 
take longer than 21 days to hatch, so it would have been much 
more .satislactory if I had been able to note the exact day when 
incul)ati()ii coiunienc'ed this season, but, as it is, I can only 
k>av(> the matter as it stands. 
1 am not aware that the eggs or young of this species 
iiave been described so the accompanying photo may be of 
interest. The eggs are rich buff, blotched and freckled with 
light red: size 1.20 x .92. As will be seen they are of a type 
mon^ usually associated with the Plovers, somewhat flattened 
at the larger end and pointed at the smaller end. 
Tiie young have the well marked central stripe, passing 
fiom the crown down the back, a rich red-l)rown. 
This summer I tried the Crested Quails in a small 
breeding pen without any result, but as soon as they Avere 
transferred to the larger aviary they again laid 13 eggs in a 
beautifully hidden nest, in the midst of a thick patch of long 
grass. The female used to draw the grass -stems together over 
her until she was quite invisible even to one knowing her 
exact position. I had come to two conclusions; one — that 
the adults would only nest in a large, natural aviary; two — 
that the young could not be possibly reared except with 
artificial heat : I therefore got the apparatus in which the young 
Argoondah Quails were reared all ready. This was in the 
verj' warmest corner of a warm house and consisted of frwo 
compartments separated by what engineers would call a " l)atllc- 
plate " — in other words a division under which the young 
could pass easily but the adults only with difficulty and at 
the centre; the object being to prevent the adults from rampuig 
up and down the enclosure and trampling on the young. 
The adults brought off 12 young at mid-day on the HUth 
August, leaving one chick on the point of hatching — another 
proof of the extraordinary fertility of the eggs. 
Having located the family party under a bush close to 
me side of the aviary, I fastened one end of a small herring- 
net to the wire-netting, and got an assistant to hold the other 
end. I then began to surround the bush with a very fine- 
meshed clap-net. The adults soon took to their heels and ran 
into the pocket of the large net which was at once thrown 
down on them by my assistant. The young entangled them- 
