THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
wash ; quills dull ashy below ; “ Bill blue grey ; the culmen brown ; iris white ; feet 
fleshy white ” (J. P. Rogers). Total length, 141 mm. ; culmen, 13 ; wing, 81 ; tail, 
27 ; tarsus, 17. 
Adult male. Smaller than the female, with the chin, upper throat and the whole 
of the abdomen white ; the eyebrow and sides of face, as also the line of feathers down 
the crown reddish-buff, and more uniform than the white, black-edged plumage of these 
parts in the female ; the sides of the neck buffy-white, with dusky-brown edges to 
the feathers, producing an escalloped appearance, which is continued down the sides 
of the breast ; the lower throat and breast orange-chestnut, like the tail and under 
tail-coverts ; the upper-surface of the body less distinctly streaked, the white margins 
of the scapulars, and inner secondaries being more isabelline or rufescent. Total 
length, 147 mm. ; culmen, 13 ; wing, 75 ; taU, 31 ; tarsus 19. 
Nest. “ A slight depression in the ground, scantily Hned with grasses, usually protected by 
a grass tuft or sheltered in a grain crop ” (Campbell). 
Nggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour buffish-white, spotted, but not so thickly as Turnix 
velox, with slate-grey, chestnut, and dark brown ; surface dull. Axis, 22 mm. ; 
diameter, 17.5. 
Breeding season. September to December (Ramsay). 
Mr. F. L. Berney*, writing from the Richmond District, North Queensland, says : 
“ This species is the most commonly seen Quail in the district, but, like the last 
species [Synoicus] and probably for the same reason [food supply] it avoids these 
parts during the latter half of the year, only odd individuals being seen after June. 
Just what it is that governs their coming and going I find it hard to decide, 
for 1904 was anything but a good season from a pastoralist’s point of view, 
yet it was an exceptionally good Quail year about Richmond — and, I think, all 
over Queensland — while, on the other hand, 1906, so far (October) has been one 
of the best recorded for grass and water, and yet all the Quails have been most 
rare. I have seen chicks in the down in March, and I once flushed a bird with 
four small downy youngsters early in July. 
“ Found generally in high, dry country.” 
Of the specimens figured and described, the male was collected at Parry’s 
Creek, East Kimberley, North-West Australia, by Mr. J. P. Rogers, on February 
i4th, 1909, and the female at the same place on April 3rd, 1909. 
* Emu, VI., p. 107 (1907). 
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