Order GALLIF0RME8 
No. 12. 
Family PHA8IANIDM. 
SYNOICUS AUSTRALIS DIEMENENSIS. 
TASMANIAN BROWN QUAIL. 
Synoicus dibmenbnsis Gould, P.Z.S., p. 33 (1847), Tasmania. 
8ynoicus diemenensis Gould, P.Z.S., p. 33 (1847) ; id., B. Austr., V., PI. 90 (1848) ; id., Handb. 
B. Austr., II., p. 194 (1865) ; Ramsay, Tab. List. Austr. B., p. 19 (1888) ; North, 
Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 290 (1889). 
8ynoecus diemenensis Mueller, P.Z.S., p. 280 (1869) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. B., 
p. 727 (1901) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 7 (1908) ; Littler, Handb. B. Tasmania, 
p. 108 (1910). 
Distribution. Tasmania. 
Adult male and female. Similar to male and female of 8, australis, but slightly larger, 
the wing measuring as much as 106 mm. 
Nest. Similar to that of 8. australis. 
Eggs. Clutch, six to twelve ; the eggs are much rounder than those of 8ynoicus cervinus. 
Ground colour, yellowish-white, thickly covered with spots of greenish-brown. 
Surface smooth and slightly glossy. Axis, 30 to 31 mm. ; diameter, 25. 
Dr. G. Horn, writing to me from Victoria, says he had a solitary female of 
this race in captivity. In one season she laid eighty-seven eggs, the ground 
colour of the later ones being very pale. 
Mr. Erank Littler tells me the breeding season is during the summer 
months and into early autumn. He also says : — 
“They do not return to their usual feeding ground after sheep have been 
grazed there.”' 
