194 ON THE HABITS OF THE MALLEE HEN, LEIPOA OCELLATA, 



with confidence only thus far. About the month of October, the 

 birds (2 only) commence (if new to construct — if old to repair) 

 their huge mound nests. In the former case they select a slight 

 depression ; such as where a stump has been burned out, this they 

 fill with a mass of leaves, fragments of " porcupine grass," Mallee 

 bark, &c, &c, and in doing this the whole surface of the sur- 

 rounding ground for many yards is swept perfectly clean. The 

 method of doing this is to go out some distance from the site of the 

 intended nest, and then walking backwards, alternately raking 

 with each of their powerful feet, and assisted by their wings, 

 sweep everything loose to a common centre. In the case of an old 

 nest, they clean out the sand used for covering the eggs the 

 previous year, and should they deem it necessary place more 

 leaves, &c, in the hollow. Should the weather be moist at the 

 time, the work goes on uninterruptedly, but should it be dry, they 

 wait until a passing shower has damped the mass of vegetable 

 deposit, this they then cover with three or four inches of sand, 

 when the female commences the work of depositing her eggs — this 

 she does by laying the egg on the sand covering the leaves, &c, 

 and then leaning backwards grasps the egg in both feet, placing it 

 in an upright position (small end down), then holding it with one 

 foot, she with the other gently rakes some sand around ; and 

 changing feet does the same on the other side until the egg will 

 stand ; it is then covered, as well as the other part of the nest 

 with several inches of sand. And here comes in the immense 

 amount of work the birds have to perform at each subsequent 

 laying for the whole of the sand down to the level of the first egg 

 (until the first layer or tier is completed) has to be removed, and 

 so on with each successive layer ; and as the mound increases in 

 height the labour increases in proportion, for should the weather 

 be dry, as it usually is, the sand runs like so much water, and a 

 person has only to open one of these mounds himself to understand 

 the difficulty the birds have to contend with in keeping the sand 

 Irom running back. The removal of the sand is effected by the 

 aid of wings and feet, the bird dragging each small quantity thus 

 obtained a sufficient distance to ensure its not running back. 



