286 
TURNICID^E. 
assume the form of a zone. Two eggs in the Australian Museum 
Collection, taken by Mr. George Masters at King George’s Sound, 
measure as follows : — length (A) IT x 08 inch ; (B) 1-12 x 1-86 
inch. 
A set taken at Dobroyde on the 9th of October 1864, by Dr. 
Ramsay, give the following measurements: — length (A) 1-11 x 
09 inch; (B) 1'12 x 0-9 inch; (C) 1-14 x 0 - 91 inch; (D) IT x 
0-9 inch. 
This bird sits very close and will allow itself to be almost 
trodden upon before leaving its eggs or young. 
September and the four following months constitute the 
breeding season of this species. 
IIah. Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 
Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New 
South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania. 
(Ramsay.) 
TURNIX VELOX, Gould. 
Swift-flying Turnix. 
Gould, Ilandbk. Bds. Ausl., VoL ii., sp. 483, p. 184. 
This bird is distributed over the greater portion of the 
Australian continent, and is particularly abundant during the 
breeding season, September and the three following months, on 
the grassy plains of the Lachlan and Darling Districts of New 
South Wales. Like that of all other members of the genus, 
the nest is formed of grasses placed in a hollow of the ground 
behind some convenient tuft of grass. Eggs four in number 
for a Sitting, in form swollen ovals, and extremely variable in the 
disposition of their markings ; some being minutely freckled, and 
closely resembling miniature eggs of T. varius, others being boldly 
blotched and spotted like those of T. melanogaster. 
A set in the Australian Museum Collection are of a bufly-white 
ground colour, thickly freckled and blotched with dark reddish- 
