A simple corneal epithelial squash technique was used to establish the karyotype of the Australian King QuailExcalfactoria chinensisLinné. It was found that the female was the heterogametic sex, and that the sex determining mechanism was the ZZ-ZW type. The karyotype of this species was found to have morphological similarities to the published karyotype of the Japanese QuailCoturnix coturnix japonica, but with certain recognizable differences.