XESTS AAV EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 707 



of the place these birds choose for their remarkable mode of rearing 

 theu- youug, I will describe it as nearly ;is I c;ui : — The Wongan Hills 

 are about 1,300 feet above the level of the sea, in a norlh-uorth-east 

 direction from Drummond's house, in the Toodyay. Theii- sides are 

 thickly clothed with a dense forest of Eucalypti; and at their base 

 is a tliicket. extending for several miles, of upright growing and thick 

 bushy plants, so high in most pai-ts that we could not see over their 

 tops, and so dense that if we separated only for a few yards we were 

 obliged to ' cooey to prevent oiu- straying from each other. This 

 thicket is again shadowed by a very curious species of dwarf Eucalyptus 

 bearing yellow blossoms, and growing from fifteen to thirty feet in 

 height, kno\vn to the natives as spear-wood, and of which they make 

 thck spears, digging-slicks, dowaks, &c. Tlie whole formation is a fine 

 reddish ironstone gi'avel, and tliis the Lipoa scratches up from several 

 vards around and thus forms its mound, to be aftenvards converted 

 into a hot-bed for the reproduction of its offspring. The interior of 

 the mound is composed of the finer particles of gravel mixed with 

 vegetable matter, the feiinentation of which produces a warmth 

 sufficient for the piu-pose of hatching. Mr. Drammond, who has been 

 for years ax^customed to hot-beds in England, gave it as his opinion 

 that the heat aroimd the eggs was about 89°. In both the nests with 

 eggs the white ant was veiy numerous, making its little covered 

 galleries around and attached to the shell. One of the eggs I have 

 preserved shows the white ant's tracks most beautifully. The largest 

 mound I saw, and which appeared as if in a state of preparation for 

 eggs, measui-ed forty-five feet in circumference, and if rounded in pro- 

 portion on the top would have been fully five feet in height. 

 I remarked in all the moimds not ready for the reception of eggs the 

 inside or vegetable portion was always wet and cold. In both cases 

 where I found eggs the upper part of the mound was perfectly and 

 smoothly rounded over, so that anyone passing it without knowing the 

 singular habit of the bird might very readily suppose it to be an 

 ant-hill. Mounds in this state always contain eggs within, while those 

 without eggs axe not only not rounded over, but have the centres so 

 scooped out that they form a hollow. The eggs are deposited in a 

 verj' different manner to those of the Megapodius ; instead of each 

 being placed in a separate excavation in different parts of the mound, 

 they are laid directly in the centre, all at the same depth, separated 

 only by about three inches of earth, and so placed as to form a circle. 

 I regret we were so early ; had we been later, the probability is I should 

 have found the circle of eggs complete. No one, considering the 

 immense size of the egg, can for a moment suppose the bird capable 

 of laying more than one without at least the intermission of a day 

 and perhaps even more. Like those of the Megapodius, they are 

 covered with an epidennis-like coating, and are certainly as large, being 

 three inches and three-quarters in length by two and a-half inches in 

 breadth : they vary in colour from a very light-brown to a hght-salmon. 

 During the whole day we did not succeed in obtaining sight of the 

 bird, although we saw numerous tracks of its feet and many places 

 where it had been scratching. We also saw its tracks on the sand when 



