;00 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



therein. After the leaves are thoroughly saturated by the winter 

 raius, they are covered up with the sand. The fact that the mound 

 is usually situated in a shallow course or slight gully, further 

 insiu'es the vegetation becoming thoroughly soaked. The female com- 

 mences to lay in September, or usually October. 



Two or three inches of dry loose sand are thrown over the leaves, 

 then a tier or layer of four eggs (Gould states eight) is deposited, each 

 placed perpendicularly on the smaller end. The four eggs are in the 

 form of a square, four or five inches apart. An inch or two more sand 

 covers them, and another tier of eggs is placed opposite tlie interstices 

 of the svib-tier, and so on, till the complement is reached, three or four 

 tiers amounting to between twelve and sixteen eggs. Mr. Charles 

 McLennan, who has enjoyed exceptional experiences with Mallee Hens' 

 mounds, tells me there are always four eggs in the bottom tier, but 

 sometimes six in the other tiers, except the topmost tier, which finishes 

 with one only, the number of tiers being usually three, occasionally 

 four. The centre or portion in the heart of the mound containing the 

 circle of eggs is about fourteen inches in diameter. One of Gould's 

 infoi-mants. Sir George Grey, who first mentioned the singular position 

 of the ngg, states: — "When an egg is to be deposited, the top of the 

 mound is laid open, and a hole scraped in its centre, to witliin two or 

 three inches of the bottom ( ? top) of the layer of dead leaves. The 

 egg is placed in the sand just at the edge of the hole, in a vertical 

 position, with the smaller end downwards. The sand is then thrown 

 in again, and the mound loft in its original form . When a 



second egg is laid it is deposited in precisely the same plane as the first, 

 but at the opposite side of the hole, before alluded to. When a third 

 egg is laid it is placed in the same plane as the others, but, as it were, 

 at the tliird comer of a square. When the fourth egg is laid, it is 

 nt\\\ placed in the same plane, but in the fourth corner of the square, 

 the figure being of this fonn — o d ; the next foiu- eggs in succession 

 are placed in the interstices, hut alwai/s in f/ic same plane (?), so at 

 last there is a circle of eight eggs, with several inches of sand inter- 

 vening between each."* 



In one mound opened by Sir George Grey, which, however, had been 

 previously robbed of several eggs, he found two eggs opposite each other 

 in the same plane, and a third egg four and a-half inches below them, 

 a circumstance which he says '' led me to imagine it was possible that 

 there might be sometimes successive circles of eggs in different planes." 



Mr. P. R. Godfrey states : — " I have more than once seen a second 

 tier of eggs exactly above the lower, but this is a rare occmrence, and 

 sets one puzzling how the young birds that are first hatched, which 

 of coiu-sc occupy the lower stoiy, can get out of their prison without 

 disturbing those immediately above them. 



During laying time an egg is deposited every third day. A great 



* Since writing my observation'; on the Mallee lien, Dr. C. S. Ryan has 

 kindly showed me a photograph which he took of a mound partly opened, 

 exposing the top portions of eight eggs. They form an irregular circle, and 

 are apparently nearly all about the same plane. — (A.J.C.) 



