Order GALLIF0RME8 
No. 13. 
Family PHASIANIDuE. 
SYNOICUS AUSTRALIS CERVINUS. 
WESTEEN BEOWN QUAIL. 
(Plate 11.) 
Synoicus cbrvlnus Gould, Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 195 (1865), Port Essington. 
Synoicus cervinus Gould, Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 195 (1865) ; Ramsay, Tab. List. B. 
Austr., p. 19 (1888) ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 291 (1889). 
Coturnix australis Einsch, Neu Guinea, p. 179 (1865) 
Syncecus cervinus Forbes, P.Z.S., p. 127 (1878) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 7 (1908). 
Synoecus australis Robinson and Laverock, Ibis, p. 648 (1900) ; Berney, Emu, VI., p. 106 
(1907). 
Synoicus australis Hartert, Nov. Zool., XII., p. 195 (1905). 
Syncecus sordidus Mathews, Emu, IX., pp. 1 and 53 (1909). 
Distribution. North of a line drawn from Brisbane to Shark’s Bay (roughly speaking). 
Adult male and female. Similar to the male and female of S. australis, but smaller ; wing, 
92 mm. “ Bill brown, base of lower mandible leaden grey ; eyes dark red ; feet and 
tarsus yellow ” (J. P. Rogers). 
Nest. Similar to that of S. australis. 
Eggs. Clutch, four to eleven. A clutch collected on the Dawson River, North Queens- 
land, has the ground colour yellowish-white, with fewer and paler markings than 
the eggs of Synoicus diemenensis. Axis, 30 to 31 mm. ; diameter, 22 to 23. 
Another egg collected on March the 5th, 1890, has the ground colour of a bluish- 
white without markings. Axis, 28 mm. ; diameter, 22. 
Breeding season. September to November (Carter), January (Rogers). 
Mr. Tom Carter sends me the following note : — “ In wet seasons these birds 
were fairly plentiful in the dense herbage growing along inland creeks in the 
North-West of Australia, but they disappeared when the grass dried off. 
Nests were occasionally found on the coast at Point Cloates. Eleven fresh 
eggs were found in a nest there on the 11th September, 1900. Young birds were 
shot while flying on the 4th November, 1900.” 
My collector, Mr. J. P. Rogers, sends me the following notes from Wyndham, 
in North-West Australia : — 
November 25th, 1908. — Saw a covey on Parry’s Creek. 
December 10th, 1908. — Saw a few scattered birds. 
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