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Mr. E. II. Lane wrote ine as follows from Suina Park, (_)rati;^e, New South Wales: — 

 " About 1896 I instructed my overseer at Wambaiigalan^' Station, in the Dubbo District, to 

 enclose with wire netting a nest or mound of Lipoa occUtUa he had found about fourteen or fifteen 

 miles north-westetly from the homestead, and to visit it at least every (jther day. This he did 

 during the second week of October several times, when he found two chicks within the enclosure, 

 and though the cleared up space around the netting was covered with the tracks of the old birds, 

 there was not a sign of tlieir marks on the inside, thus clearly pro\ing that the chicks found 

 their own way out of the mound. Mr. Brown brought the two chicks into the station, where I 

 saw them a day or two after, on my arrival there for the shearing. .\t this time I had no idea 

 that anyone held the notion that these chicks could tly as soon as they left the nest, and I am 

 quite satisfied that such is not the case, and judging from their appearance 1 would think it 

 would require the growth of some weeks to enable them to do so. At best the adult birds are 

 sluggish on the wing. Though I have seen many mounds of LZ/oafiiY//!?/;! during these fifty years 

 past, when mustering stock in the Mallee country of the Lachlan River, and also in the scrub 

 out from Wambangalang, I ha\e only had the opportunity personally of robbing three mounds, 

 two of which only had one and two fresh eggs respectively, but upon the day I took the one egg 

 I also took eleven eggs from a mound about the last of September or beginning of October, 

 1S77 or 1.S78. These eggs were in various stages of incubation, from being perfectly fresh to, I 

 would say, about a week or ten days from hatching, but they did not appear to me as if the 

 time between each egg had been equal, and that each chick would ha\e come out singly, but 

 rather in pairs at an inter\al of several days." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. .Austin wrote me in 

 January, igio : — "Ma.\\&e-io\v\ ( Lipoa occUata) were atone time very plentiful all through the 

 Mallee country of North-western Mctoria. Daring 1889 I saw a great many old nesting-mounds 

 on Tyrell Downs Station, near Sea Lak'e, in \ictoria. During the nine months I was there, 

 however, I did not see a single bird, they had long since been driven far back into the heart of 

 the Mallee. A few years ago I found one of their mounds just outside the boundary fence of the 

 above estate. Hoping to get the young birds I waited until I thought the birds had finished 

 laying, then fenced it in with wire netting, but as I had put the netting across the top this 

 prevented the old birds attending to the mound ; the result was the mound settled down so hard 

 that the young birds could not get out of the eggs. When I opened it up, after being fenced in 

 for two months, there were two addled eggs, and five young birds which appeared to be not 

 long dead." 



The following notes by Mr. S. Robinson will be read with interest, for they prove the 

 exception to the rule. Usually the bird is not seen, but in this instance the female came within 

 a few yards of him, repairing the mound while he was blowing the eggs : — ■" During my rambles 

 on Babinda Station, near Nymagee, in the Central District of New South Wales, I heard of the 

 Mallee-hen (Lipoa ocdlata) breeding in the scrub, and decided to try and find some of their 

 mounds, but was advised not to go far out in the scrub, as I would never return. That, however, 

 did not deter me, for after dinner I toolc a bucket and tomahawk, and off I went, never dreaming 

 that the scrub was so dense, but once I got in it I had serious thoughts of not going far, 

 only by dropping on hands and knees, and cutting my way, was I able to make any progress. 

 After about an hour's hard work, cutting and creeping, and a rest every ten minutes, I succeeded 

 in finding a fair sized mound, which I opened, and was rewarded with eight eggs almost 

 perfectly fresh. I took them under a shady tree, about ten yards away, to blow and pack ; 

 after blowing three or four 1 turned my head to look at the mound, ha\ ing heard a slight noise, 

 which to my surprise was the bird filling up the hole I had made, stopping every now and then 

 panting with the extreme heat, then at it agam, tossing up the line shingle. It must have taken 

 fully half an hour to complete, stoppages jncluded, only ore bird doing the work. I felt very 



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