STUBBLE QUAIL. 
full of a blackish seed, on which the bird feeds. They only move at night. 
Often, when sitting out of doors in the evening have I heard the quick whirring 
of their wings overhead. 
“ The nest is placed in a small depression in grass or in a crop. The 
clutch varies from seven to ten. The eggs vary, some having thick black 
blotches, thinly distributed over the surface ; others have dense blotches all over. 
“ On May 10th, 1909, I found a nest from which the chick had been 
hatched about a week. On November the 17th of the same year I found a nest 
with eight eggs.” 
Mr. F. E. Howe of Melbourne sends me the following notes : — “ I found 
a nest containing seven or eight young ; as usual they all scattered. Two, 
I noticed, after running a few yards, crouched and flattened themselves out, 
the throat touching the ground. The female fluttered along as if she had a 
broken wing. 
“ Whenever a nest containing eggs or young was found by flushing the bird, 
it was always the female. The call is a sharp double whistle.” 
Mr. P. T. Sandland tells me that in good seasons they are numerous at 
Burra in South Australia. 
Mr. Tom Carter tells me he only secured one example of this species 
at Point Cloates, West Australia ; it was shot on a flat near his house. 
He found it plentiful at Broome Hill, and has sent me adult and half-grown 
birds as well as chicks. 
Mr. C. F. Belcher says : — “ The call of three notes in quick succession 
is flrst heard about mid-October in Southern Victoria, and the eggs are laid 
in November and December. It is never seen where the timber is thick. There 
seems to be a migration southward in September and northward in April 
or May, but it is irregular and depends largely on rainfall.” 
The following note, giving the date of completion of the clutch, is of 
interest : — 
“ Bird commenced to lay 30th November (1891), and laid for seven 
consecutive days, the smallest egg (a brownish-coloured example) being the 
last. The nest on the flrst day was a bare hole scraped in the ground, but 
after the eggs were all laid some slight attempt was made at lining it.”* 
The male described and figured was given me by Mr. Edwin Ashby, who 
collected it at Bolivar in South Australia in December, 1894. 
The female and immature bird were given me by Mr. Tom Carter, who 
collected them at Broome Hill, Western Australia. 
* Grove, in Campbell’s Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 722 (1901). 
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