6 Bird- Lore
upward) of the eggs within the mound, the chicks are hatched in an upright attitude, with their legs drawn up in front and toes near their beak; therefore it would be easy for the young, when delivered in due time from the shell. to \vriggle through the loose sand and so free themselves from their great earthen incubators In accordance with the natural law—the greater the size of the egg in comparison with the size of the parent, the more precocious the young—the young Mallee Fowl can fly at its birth, and thereafter probably leads an independent existence of its own.
It may be added that the call of the Mallee Fowl is a mournful, pro~ longed. coo-like note, which may be heard nearly a mile away. Being terrestrial in habit, its food consists chiefly of insects, seeds and berries, and tender shoots of plants. It can subsist without water, but sometimes drinks when it rains.
The Brush Turkey or \Vattled Talegallus (Cat/Jetnrm [at/Jami) is another extraordinary mound-raising bird, and is a denizen of the dense coasral scrubs of eastern Australia This bird is slightly larger than the NIallee Fowl, and is blackish brown in color, as are also the bill, eyes and feet. The skin of the head is pinkish and thinly dotted with short, hairelilte feathers, while the neck is ornamented with yellow and red wattle.
During the season of 1891, within the shades of the luxuriant sub- tropical scruh of the Richmond river district, I was fortunate in finding an egg-mound (sue illustration) which contained eight eggs embedded at a temperature of ninetydour degrees, or four degrees higher than the pref vailing atmosphere at the time, The mound, rotund in form, was twelve feet in diameter at the base by two and one—half feet in height, and was composed chiefly of black earthy mould mixed with decaying vegetable matter. It is stated that the male birds generally perform the work of mound»building, the debris being scraped up or gathered in the claws and thrown backwards One to three mated pairs frequent one mound. The females lay about twelve eggs each, which are placed, small ends downward, a few inches apart, in circular tiers at the depth of about an arm’s length, The eggs are more or less elliptical in shape, slightly rough, without glossiness, and are pure white if not stained with the dirt of the mound. They are about the same size as those of the Mallee Fowl,
Concerning Brush Turkeys in captivity, the hlessrst Le Souef Brothers, of the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, inform me that the young grow quickly, and at the age of nine months are hardly distinguishable from their parents The birds keep well in confinement, but, being of a pug- nacious nature, the males have to be separated when the breeding season arrivesr A female was once watched depositing her egg. She first scratched a hole ten inches deep near the top of the mound and entered
