THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
middle, those on the sides of the breast and sides of the body are white narrowly 
lined on each side with black and margined with rufous ; the feathers on the lower 
flanks more broadly centred with white, the dark brown on the outer webs divided 
by a narrow longitudinal line of buff ; middle of abdomen, thighs and under tafl- 
coverts white, the latter more or less lined with black ; under wing-coverts and axil- 
laries white ; “ Bill bluish horn ; iris red hazel; feet yellowish” (T. Carter). Total 
length, 191 mm. ; wing, 110 ; culmen from base of forehead, 15 ; tail, 32 ; tarsus, 26. 
Adult female. Differs from the male in having less black above, the rufous much paler and 
the grey more in evidence ; the throat white instead of rufous, the feathers of the 
chest are less black, some of them margined with buff. Total length, 180 mm. ; wing, 
107 ; culmen, 17 ; tarsus, 26. 
Another female from Western Australia has the head almost entirely black with 
the exception of the white eyebrow ; the back more ruf ous-browm with no appearance 
of grey ; sides of face isabelline becoming paler on the throat, but not white ; feathers 
of the breast and abdomen fulvous with submarginal lines of black ; the long feathers 
on the sides of the body and flanks with broad white shaft-streaks lined on each side 
with black and mottled with fulvous on the margins. 
Young male. Has the white streak of the adult just appearing on the middle of the crown ; 
sides of the crown, chin and throat are covered with buff hair-like feathers ; the feathers 
of the back and scapulars pale brown crossed by ferrugineous and black bars broadly 
hned with white ; the long inner secondaries and upper tail-coverts with longitudinal 
lines of black next to the pale shaft-streak ; under-surface buffy-white with twin black 
spots on each feather, the long flank-feathers with broad white shaft-streaks and three 
dark spots on each web. 
Nestling. Tawny and black above, these colours arranged in four lines, more or less longi- 
tudinally, from head to tail ; under-surface fulvous. 
Nest. “ Upon the ground in crop or herbage, the nesting hollow, 4| inches across, being lined 
with straw or grass as the case may be ” (Campbell). 
Eggs. Clutch, about eight ; three eggs collected in Victoria are oval in shape, with a slight 
gloss on the surface, and have the ground-colom* buff, freckled and blotched with 
reddish-brown over the entire surface. Axis, 30 to 32 mm, ; diameter, 21 to 22. 
Breeding season. Usually September to January (Ramsay), but eggs have been taken 
much later. 
Incuhation-period. (In captivity) eighteen days (Seth-Smith). 
Mr. E. J. Christian, writing to me from Northern Victoria, says : — “ This 
bird prefers the open plain and is also found in the crops. I have 
often found its nest, containing young, shortly after the reaper and binder 
has passed through. When one comes on a nest containing young, they scatter 
in all directions with incredible swiftness. If the nest is placed in a well-grassed 
locality it is impossible to trace the young. When disturbed these birds rise 
very quickly, making a whirring sound. 
“ They move about, according to the supply of food. In 1906 there was 
plenty of food and the Quails were numerous. The birds stayed on till the 
following autumn, until the surplus food of the year before was finished ; they 
then moved south, where, although colder, there was more food to be had. 
“ A favourite haunt of the Stubble Quail in Victoria is along the Gippsland 
coast, where rank grasses, chiefly spear grass, grow. The head of this grass is 
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