THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
feathers extending across the hind-neck ; lores, ear-coverts and cheeks black, with 
a streak of white on the fore-part of the cheeks below the eye ; throat and entire breast 
black, with white spots or subterminal bars on the feathers, the white bars being very 
distinct on the sides of the breast, where a few feathers are chestnut ; abdomen and 
flanks dull ashy-grey, with a blackish bar on the ends of some of the feathers, the 
flanks also showing an occasional subterminal white spot between two bars of black ; 
the long feathers of the lower flanks and the under tail-coverts vermiculated with 
blackish, and having a subterminal spot of dull white or buff ; under wing-coverts 
and axillaries dull ashy ; the marginal coverts darker ; quiUs dull ashy below. 
Total length, 190 mm.; culmen, 19; wing, 114; tail, 38; tarsus, 23. 
Adult male. Distinguished from the female by the absence of the black on the head and 
throat, paler abdomen and smaller size. Total length, 164 mm. ; culmen, 16 ; 
wing, 104 ; tail, 40 ; tarsus, 23. 
Nest. “ Merely a shght depression in the ground, in grassed or open scrub country ” 
(Campbell). 
Eggs. Clutch, three to four ; two eggs collected on the Dawson River, in North Queensland, 
are smooth and glossy, with the ground-colour greyish- white, minutely freckled over 
the entire surface with blue-grey, and bolder blotches of blackish-brown ; with 
underlying blotches of blue-grey. Axis, 26-27 mm. ; diameter, 21. 
Breeding season. September to February (Ramsay). 
In this and the remaining species of Australian Turnix the tarsus is equal to or 
shorter than the middle toe and claw. 
When originally describing this bird, Gould* states that it came from New 
South Wales or Tasmania, but in his Folio workf he states that all the 
specimens he had seen were procured at Moreton Bay, which is situated in what 
is now called Queensland. J 
I can find no account of the habits of this bird. Mr. A. J. Campbell, Z.c., 
quoting Mr. Barnard, says : “ This bird always inhabits the scrub, and is very 
shy and rare.” 
The female described and figured was collected in the Gowrie scrub in Queens- 
land in December, 1889. 
* Gould, P.Z.S., p. 7 (1837). 
I Birds of Australia, V., PI. 81 (1848). 
J Formerly New South Wales included what is now known as that State ; Victoria, which was separated 
in 1850; and Queensland, which was separated in 1859. 
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