CATniiTUKU.s. 1(;7 



( Tiili-i^dlliii lalkduii ) was far from rare dutiiiL; our four week's stay in that tiei,L;hbourhood, and I 

 nuibt have shoto\er a dozen. When disturbed it would often rise and fly to a tree, and settle 

 on one of the lower branches, and immediately start to jump from one branch to another until 

 it reached the top, where it would remain sitting still for some time, hut more often it would 

 fly away. On the tablelands around fSoar Pocket and Lake liichani they were remarkably 

 cnnmion. 



" The nesting-mound is similarly constructed to that of the Scrub-hen ( Me^apodiiis tiiiuuliis), 

 but is smaller. In a small gully we found one about eight feet high, and thirty to forty feet 

 across the base. I got close to this mound eaily one morning, and hid between the buttresses 

 of a giant Fig-tree. It was not long before I heard and saw three Brush Turlceys about fifty 

 or sixty yards away, on the other side of the mound throwing back all broken branches, 

 sticks, etc. ; all the ground was scraped clean for a radius of uiie hundred yards around the 

 mound, the birds slandmg with their backs to the mound and grasping branches and sticks with 

 their powerful feet, and threw them backwards for a distance of two or three yards. From 

 this mound the blacks who were with us took o\er a dozen eggs. These birds have a great 

 partiality for the blossoms of a Fig-tree, where tlie fruit grow all around the stem of the tree. 

 When they had eaten off all the blossoms within reach of the ground, I have seen them Hy up 

 and strike the blossoms with their wings two or three times, and then eat the fallen flowers at 

 their leisure. 



" I have also shot these birds and found their nesting-mounds near the Bellinger River, in 

 the North Coast District of New South Wales; also at Cainbewarra Mountam and Broughton 

 Creek, in the Illawarra District of the same State. In the latter localities they feed largely on the 

 seeds of the Cabbage Palm and Wild Raspberry, Figs and the fruit of the Tamarind-tree." 



|)r. Walter E. Ivoth, late Northern Protector of Queensland Aborigines, thus writes relative 

 to the mode of capture of TaUxiiUiis latliami by the blacks : — " The Talcnallns tracks, either to or 

 from water, usually pass along the same path daily, and consequently but little difficulty is 

 experienced in determining the exact spot where to erect one of the Lawyer-cane traps with 

 which this bird is decoyed and captured. The particular trap used on the Russell River consists 

 of a series of Lawyer-cane hoops stuck into the ground, and fixed in continuity by means of 

 strips of similar material, fixed along the tops and sides respectively. According to Mr. H. 

 Saltmarsh, the trap is about four feet long and one and a half feet high in its highest part, i.e., 

 about nine inches from the entrance, and the mouth is about fifteen inches wide. Though the 

 natives make them of dillerent sizes, the above is an average one; the local name is 'gimniom.' 

 After erecting such a structure, the hunter will bait it well with nuts, fruits, etc., in the morning, 

 and then about sundown take up his position in a specially constructed hiding place — made of 

 leafy branches, etc. — about twelve feet away, but right in front of the opening, and he rushes 

 out immediately the Turkey strolls into the trap. i\ native will generally build two traps in 

 close proximity, so as to work both from the one hiding place. In the Tully River District, the 

 traps — which are employed here for both Talcgallus and Mcgapodius — are furnished with ' wings.' 

 These latter consist either of sticks and brushes closely intertwined, or else of half-hoops of 

 Lawyer-cane in the form of a close net-work. The whole trap complete takes about half a day 

 to fix in place. The hunter occupies a position behind the wings, in close proximity to the trap 

 and crouching down, covers himself with leaves and bushes. The Tully River native 'calls' 

 for the Tiiltgdlliis, but not for Mt-gapodins." 



Mr. Ernest D. Barnard wrote me as follows from Kurrajong, near Gladstone, Queensland .• — 

 " A nestin'^-mound oi Tallegnllns latlmiiii, found on igth February, 1911, measured as follows: 

 ground diameter ten feet, height about two feet, top diameter seven feet. The eggs were from 

 fifteen to eighteen inches in depth, and were all placed small end downwards, and were arranged 

 in a circle about eighteen to twenty inches apart, but varying in two instances to twenty-five 



