A. Lendon—Breeding the Little Bustard-Quail



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I believe tbe only other recorded breeding. When first introduced the

female bullied them so much that I had to place them in an adjoining

pen for a few days, but thereafter all was well and I parted with one of

the males to the Adelaide Zoo where there was also a solitary female.

Her greeting to the male was quite different from my bird’s, she immedi¬

ately displayed to him with the accompanying booming note, just like

that of the Painted Quail (T. varia ), only not so loud, and there was no

persecution. Once settled down my pair continued amicably together

and on 28th August, 1937,1 discovered a white egg with brown speckling

in a nest made of a few pieces of dried grass situated amongst the roots

of some growing grass. A second egg was laid on 30th August and a

third on 1st September, and the male commencing sitting after the

second egg was laid. At no time prior to the eggs being laid had I seen

or heard the female displaying to her mate, but thereafter she usually

did so when the male left the nest to feed, but I never saw her go near

the nest. About midday on 13th September, I found the male brooding

two chicks, the third egg was just chipped and still in the nest and

I removed it and placed it in an incubator and although the chick

hatched its legs were deformed and it had to be destroyed. The two

chicks naturally hatched were tiny, as can be imagined from the size

of the adults, dark brown in colour, with a lighter stripe down each side

of the back. They were looked after solely by the male and I had

to remove the female the same evening as she was attacking both

the male and the chicks. The male caught numerous small insects for

them which they took from his beak and they also relished chopped up

mealworms and small earthworms which the male would pick out

of freshly turned-up earth for them. When three days old they began

to attempt to pick up fragments of food for themselves. On the fourth

day I found one chick dead but the survivor continued to flourish and

grew rapidly and at the end of five week’s time was as large as and

practically indistinguishable from its father. Continuing to grow,

by the seventh week it was as large as the mother and, having under¬

gone a partial moult, acquired the plumage of the female. Having

removed the young bird when it was about five weeks old and replaced

the female, another clutch of three eggs was laid almost immediately

but these proved infertile.



