NES'IS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 71 i 



formerly iii the Hockiugham Bay district, it is now very scarce, ouly 

 ono having been obtamccl diu-iiig my visit. 1 found that two or more 

 females visited the same mound to lay theu" eggs in ; and when this is 

 the case the moimd is often twice as large as an ordinary moimd. It 

 seems probable that several individuals assist in scratching the mound 

 together, when a space, often fifty yards in diameter (on level groimd), 

 is cleai'ed of almost eveiy fallen leiif and twig. The mounds are often 

 six feet liigh,* and twelve to foui'teen yards at the base ; sometimes they 

 are more conical. The central portion consists of decayed leaves, mixed 

 with fine debris, and next of coarser or less rooted materials ; and the 

 outside is a mass of recently gathered leaves, sticks and twigs, not showing 

 any signs of decay. In opening the nest these are easily removed, and 

 must be cai-efully pushed backwards over the sides, beginning at the top. 

 Having cleared these and obtained plenty of room, remove the semi- 

 decayed strata, and below it, where the fonnation begins, in a mass 

 of light, iine leaf-mouid, wiU be found the eggs, placed with the thin end 

 downwards, often in a cuxle, with three or foiu' in the centre, about six 

 inches apai-t. At one side, where the eggs have been first laid, they 

 wih probably be found more or less incubated, but in the centre, where 

 the eggs are placed last, quite fresh ; and if only one pair of birds has 

 laid in the mound, about twelve or eighteen eggs will be the complement, 

 and w^ill be found arranged as desciibed above. On the other hand, if 

 several females resoii. to the same nest, the regularity will be greatly 

 interfered with, and two or three eggs in different stages of development 

 will be foimd close to one another, some quite fresh, others within a few 

 days of being hatched. There are usually ten eggs in the fii'st layer or 

 circle, five or six in the second, thi'ee or four only in the centre. I found 

 that the females return every second day to lay, but never succeeded in 

 ascertaining wliich of the parent birds opens the nest. The aborigines 

 informed me that the male bird always performs tliis office, and I usually 

 found my black boys vei-y correct in their statements of this kind . 



The mounds of the Talogallus are seldom found on a great 



incline when a level spot can be obtained. They frequently bring the 

 debris from a considerable distance, and in one instance, on the Richmond 

 River, 1 noticed a place where about a cart-load had been scratched 

 tlu'ough a shallow part of a creek three or four inches deep with water, 

 and up the other side of the bank to the moimd, which was over fortv 

 yards distant. The debris is always thrown behind them. The greatest 

 number of eggs taken from one -mound at one time was tliirty-six. This 

 was a very old mound, and resorted to by several individuals." 



From Mr. Hermann Lau's manuscript respecting the Brush Turkey 

 in Southern Queensland, I take : " Large as its incubating place is, I have 

 passed by the spot several times without detecting it, because hidden 

 under the boughs of low overhanguig branches, mostly from the Moreton 

 Bay chestnut ( G (uttanospermum ) , or among the underwood thicket. 

 Have seen an accumulated heap of leaves about a foot in thickness, mixed 

 on the top with sticks, and, together with the soil underneath, making 

 a height of four feet by about twenty feet in circumference. Found 



' Probably this height has been inadvertently over estimated— (A. J. C ) 



