158 MEIJAI'ODIID.-E. 



"These liirds scrape together a great mound of earth, leaves, slicks and decaying vegetable 

 matter, generally in the densest part of the scrub, sheltered above by trees of larger growth, in 

 whicli they deposit their eggs. I have seen a good number of these nesting-mounds, but one in 

 particular, a very large one, must have been twelve feet high and about forty or fifty feet in 

 circumference. Two aborigines who were with me dug two holes about three feet deep in the sides, 

 but got nothing except a great number of black Elephant-beetles ('Scii/iiz/is solidus). They then 

 tried the other side, and this time got three fresh eggs about fourteen inches apart in the mound. 

 We went further round, and tried another likely looking place, but one of the blacks, instead of 

 securing an egg caught hold of and drew out a Carpet Snake about seven feet long. .Another 

 mound we investigated later on was not so large, but we got from it seven Scrub Hen's eggs, 

 two small Brown Snakes, and about half a dozen large Elephant-beetles. 



" The food of this species consists of various fruits, seeds and young shoots of many kinds of 

 trees and shrubs peculiar to that portion of Queensland, and it is particularly fond of the fallen 

 wax-like blossoms of the Fig-tree that bears the fruit around the butt or barrel of the tree." 



Mr. S. Ivobinson wrote me as follows: — "The mounds of the Scrub Hen (Mcgapodiits 

 fininiliis) I saw in the neighbourhood of Cairns, North-eastern Queensland, were very similar to 

 those of Tah\i;\jlliis lathanii. I do not think one could tell them apart, but the eggs are much 

 harder to get at, they are deeper down and only one layer of eggs, sometimes eight or more, 

 often less, but tlie eggs soon loose the bloom from the shell if very wet weather occurs during 

 laying time." 



Mr. j. X. Boyd sent me the following note from the Herbert River District, North-eastern 

 Queensland : — " On the 4th February, i8Sg, a blackfellow brought me a fresh egg of Mcgapodiiis 

 tuiiinhts ; it was a particularly dark-coloured one. This is extremely late, never before have 

 I got one here after the end of December." 



Typically the eggs are an elongate or compressed ellipse in form, although ovals are 

 not uncommon, and sometimes taper somewhat sharply towards the smaller end, the shell 

 being thin, comparatively close-grained and lustreless. Their normal colour, when newly laid, is 

 a pale pinkish-brown, passing into a light coft'ee-brown soon after they are deposited, and gradually 

 become darker after they have been in the mound a few days. At this stage the outer surface 

 of the shell easily chips off in places, revealing a snow-white under shell, and giving the egg a 

 mottled appearance. Six eggs taken from a mound near Cairns, North-eastern Queensland, 

 measure: — Length (.-V) 3-55 x 2-07 inches ; (B) 3'55 x 2-03 inches; (C) 3'52 x 2'0i inches; 

 (D) 3-6 X 2'oi inches; (E) 3-58 x 2-05 inches; (E) 3-45 x 2 inches. Six eggs taken from a 

 mound near Cooktown, on the 2ist October, 1896, measure: — Length (A) 3'42 x 2'i6 inches; 

 (8)3-32 X 2-07 inches; (C) 3-4 x 2-08 inches ; (0)3-5 '^ 2-07 inches ; (E)3-25 x 1*92 inches; 

 (F) 3-3 X 2-07 inches. This specimen is represented on Plate B. XLX., (igure -t. 



The chick has the forehead, crown of the head, nape and hind neck brown, slightly shaded 

 with chestnut, but which is more pronounced on the lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 and the downy tail-feathers, wings and their coverts dark brown, all but the primaries externally 

 blotched and having broken cross-bars of pale rufous ; all the under parts pale chestnut-brown ; 

 feathers on the centre of the abdomen yellowish-buff; sides of head and throat bare. Wing 4-5 

 inches. 



