BRUSH TURKEY. 325 



been^ that a kang-aroo while feeding actually hop- 

 ped up within fifteen yards^ unconscious of our 

 presence until fired at. My bower-bird proved to 

 be a new species^ since described by Mr. Gould as 

 Chlamydei'a cerviriiventriSy and the bower is ex- 

 bited in the British Museum. 



Among' the g-ame birds of Cape York^ the emu 

 is entitled to the first rank. Only two or three, 

 however, were seen, and we were not fortunate 

 enoug'h to procure one. One day an emu allowed 

 me to approach within fifty yards by stalking- it 

 cautiously, holding- up a larg*e g-reen boug'h before 

 me, when, becomings alarmed, it darted in its frig-ht 

 into a thicket and ^vas lost to view. Many brush 

 turkeys [Talegalla Lathami) were shot by our sports- 

 men, and scarcely a day j)assed on which the 

 natives did not procure for us some of their eg'g's. 

 The mode in which these and other eg-g's are cooked 

 by the blacks is to roll them up in two or three 

 larg-e leaves, and roast them in the ashes ] the eg-g*s 

 burst, of course, but the leaves prevent the contents 

 from escaping*. Both bird and eg-g-s are excellent 

 eating- ; the latter, averag-ing- three and a half inches 

 in leng'th, of a pure white colour, are deposited in 

 low mounds of earth and leaves in the dense brushes 

 in a similar manner to those of the meg-apodius, and 

 are easily dug- out with the hand. I have seen 

 three or four taken out of one mound w^here they 

 were arrang'ed in a larg-e circle, a foot and a half 

 from the surface. The laying- bird carefully effaces 



