30 
who accompanied the Earl of Kintore, Governor of South Aus¬ 
tralia, on his trip across the Continent from north to south in 
1891, succeeded in obtaining two specimens a few miles north of 
“ Newcastle Waters,” and towards the latter end of the same 
year Mr. A. H. C. Zietz, the Assistant Director of the Adelaide 
Museum, acquired the eggs of this species, one of which together 
with a male specimen of P. alexandrce, has recently been received 
by the Trustees of the Australian Museum. 
The egg of P. alexandrce is an ellipse in form, pure white, the 
texture of the shell being very fine, and the surface slightly 
glossy. Length 1-23 inch x 094 inch in breadth. 
The interior of Northern Central Australia constitutes the 
habitat of this species. 
TURNIX MELANOTUS, Gould. 
Small Black-Spotted Turnix. 
Gould, Ilandbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. ii., sp. 481, p. 182. 
*0f the three small species of Turnix found in Australia, two 
of them, T. velox and T. pyrrhothorax, give decided preference to 
the open grassy plains of the inland districts, while Turnix 
melanotus is essentially an inhabitant of the low marshy ground 
and damp scrubs contiguous to the eastern coast of Australia. 
Near Sydney the latter species is not uncommon in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Randwick, Botany, and La Perouse, localities also 
frequented by the Least Swamp Quail, Excalfatoria australis, and 
both species, shot at Botany on the same day, have been recently 
presented to the Museum. 
The nidification of 'Turnix melanotus, similar to that of other 
members of the genus, is a scantily grass-lined hollow in the 
ground, sheltered by a convenient tuft of grass or low bush. The 
eggs are four in number for a sitting ; specimens obtained on 
Mr. Boyd’s plantation on the Herbert River, Queensland, on the 
* North, Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol. i., No. 9, October, 1891. 
