COTURNIX. 
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Family PERDICIDiE. 
Genus COTURNIX, Mcehiing. 
COTURNIX PECTORALIS, Gould. 
Pectoral Quail. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Amt., Vol. ii., sp. 486, p. 190. 
This is a very common bird all over the eastern and south¬ 
eastern portions of Australia, as well as the whole of Tasmania. 
It breeds alike in the grassy flats or in the paddocks under 
cultivation. Eggs ranging from seven to fourteen in number for 
a sitting ; in form swollen ovals, and varying considerably in their 
markings even in the same nest. 
Four eggs in the Australian Museum Collection are of a yellowish 
white ground colour, thickly blotched and minutely spotted all 
over with very irregular shaped markings of dark umber-brown. 
Length (A) M2 x 0-87 inch ; (B) M2 x 0-87 inch ; (C) 114 x 
0-87 inch; (D) M7 x 087 inch. 
A set of seven taken at Macquarie Fields by I)r. Ramsay in 
September 1859, have a yellowish-white ground colour, with 
markings varying from minute freckles of umber-brown to large 
marbled blotches of a darker tint. Length (A) 1-2 x 0 - 94 inch ; 
(B) 1-24 x 0 95 inch; (C) 1-21 x 0-94 inch; (D) 1-23 x 0 ; 92 inch; 
(E) M x 0-87 inch ; (F) 1-27 x 0-95 inch ; (C) M7 x 0-87 inch. 
September and the four following months comprise the breeding 
season of this species. 
llab. Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 
Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, 
Interior, Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania. {Ramsay.) 
Genus SYNOICUS, Gould, 
SYNOICUS AUSTRALIS, Latham. 
Swamp Quail. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Ausl., Vol. ii., sp. 487, p. 193. 
This bird is distributed over the greater portion of Australia, 
and the whole of Tasmania, It constructs its nest which is 
