10(1 MKr.APODlID.T. 



by its ever increasing and advancing enemy, who will sweep this interesting bird out of existence 

 in the more civilized parts. Its flesh is much prized as an article of food both by bushmen and 

 aborigines. 



From stomachs examined, tlie food of this species consists principally of berries, seeds, and 

 a limited number of insects. Like the Scrub Fowl of the northern and north-eastern coastal 

 brushes and scrubs, the eggs of the Mallee-fowl are not incubated in the usual manner of birds, 

 but are hatched in a hot-bed of leaves and grass, covered with gravel and sand. .V hole is 

 scratched in the sand, filled up, and raised into a pyramidal heap by the pair of birds, partly by 

 their wings, but more with their powerful feet. In the centre of this dome-shaped mound an opening 

 is made, wliich is filled up with grass, leaves and debris, in which the eggs are deposited on end, 

 if the full complement is laid, in three layers, covered with the same materials, and finally 

 covered with gravel and sand. The number of eggs varies from six to twelve, the latter prob- 

 ably, the result of two birds laying in the same mound. As the mound has to be opened each 

 time an egg is deposited, and covered up, it entails a vast amount of time and labour on the 

 bird's part before tlie full complement is laid. The mound, too, is frequently opened by the 

 female during the heat of the day and covered up again at night. In these hot-beds, which 

 resemble anthills in the scrubs, the eggs are hatched, and the young birds, unassisted by the 

 parents, manage to scramble out and shitt for themselves. Gould gives a very good account of 

 the nesting-mounds of these birds in his " Handbook to the Birds of Australia," from the pen 

 of the late Sir George Grey. A full and extensive resume is also given by my friend the late 

 Mr. K. H. Bennett, in the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales," both of 

 which have been freely transcribed by various authors. 



Mr. Kobt. Grant, Taxidermist of the Australian Museum, has handed me the following 

 notes: — '■ I found the Mallee-hen (Lipoa oceUata) on Glenariff and old Byrock Stations, in the 

 eastern part of the Western Division of New South Wales. It is an extremely shy bird. On 

 one occasion I found the fresh tracks of a bird at the edge of a waterhole, and went the same 

 afternoon and waited in hiding until dusk, but saw no bird. Next morning I was there again; 

 after waiting some time I could see it cautiously coming from under some bushes close by, but 

 on raising my gun it suddenly disappeared like a flash of lightning. In all my collecting in the 

 back country I only shot three birds, two adult males and one adult female. 



" The crops and stomachs of the specimens examined contained (Juandong and Grouie 

 (Oh'i-uia acidida) stones, some with undigested portions of the fruit remaining ; also a plum-like 

 fruit that grows in many parts of the interior of New South Wales. 



" One nesting-mound I saw on Glenarilf Station was betw-een two arid three feet high, and 

 about ten or twelve feet around the base. It was composed of decaying vegetable matter, mould, 

 leaves and small twigs inside ; the outside consisted of surface wash, grit or gravel, with a few 

 bits of dead sticks laying around, and it very much resembled an anthill. On opening the mound 

 I found it contained three tiers or layers of eggs, the two lower ones in the form of a circle. 

 There were five incubated eggs in the lower ring, four in the second, partially incubated, and 

 two fresh eggs in the top, eleven in all. They were laid small end down, and were five or six 

 inches apart ; there was decaying vegetable matter between the lower and second tier and 

 mould between that and the top. The eggs were so placed that if it were possible to have 

 pushed the second and third layer of eggs down they would all have gone inside one another. 

 I found other mounds on Byrock Station similar to the one described. One was empty, the 

 other contained seven eggs, those on the upper tier being almost fresh. Two kangaroo shooters 

 who were on the station at the time, brought one evening to the camp two young birds they had 

 obtained by breaking into the lower portion of a mound. I went out with them next morning, 

 and saw tins mound, which we then found contained fresh eggs in the upper portion of it." 



