C'ATilKTLIUUS. KJlJ 



rebuilt the inouiul tliey collected a considerable (|uantity of additional material, until at last 

 the mound assumed enormous dimensions. Probably this was necessary if the composing 

 material, havin.t,' once ,L;enerated heat, would not a^,'ain heat the mound to the right temperature 

 unless an additional quantity of debris was piled up. The greatest number of eggs I have 

 tak-en from one mound is thirty-five. As the birds were reduced in number, smaller mounds 

 were constructed, and it became a usual thing to find only eight or ten eggs where the 

 full complement was laid. I once tried the experiment of removing well incubated eggs from 

 a mound and completing tlie hatching in an incubator, and made the discovery that the young 

 birds do not chip the shell in the ordinary manner, but the shell bursts, and is reduced to a 

 number of small pieces, the young bird appearing with each feather encased in a sheath, which 

 peels off as the feathers dry ; they are immediately able to runabout. In December, 1895, 

 I came across a mound on the bank of a creels, and dropping on my knees on the t(jp of 

 it, at once set to work to rake back the debris with my hands to discover if there was 

 any heat in tlie mound, and to my alarm drew my hand over a large Black Snake, which 

 was concealed beneath the surface, and in the act uncovered more than a foot of the thickest 

 part of the body. When about to strike, noticing a movement of the leaves nearer the edge of 

 the mound where I was standing, I struck repeatedly, and soon brought another Black Snake 

 to the surface, and lea\ing it helpless then killed the snake I had first seen." 



Mr. George Sa\idge writes as follows from Copmanhurst, New South Wales: — "The 

 Brush Turkey (TaUciiaUus lathatiii) in the early days was very plentiful in all the scridis of 

 the Clarence Iviver District, and right up to the Great l>ividing Range that separates the 

 Clarence Valley from the New England District. At one time they were plentiful in the 

 scrubs that border the river at Copmanhurst, but of late years are not to be found anywhere 

 within a radius of fifteen or twenty miles. I have found many of their mounds placed in all 

 sorts of positions, sometimes on the flat level ground, and at others on the steep and stony sides 

 of mountains, the leaves and decaying vegetation being gathered together for some distance 

 from the mound, which has the appearance of being swept with a broom, so clean does the surface 

 appear. I have dug out as many as thirty eggs from one mound, which I believe were laid 

 by several birds. I have scattered their mound about, to lind only a few eggs laid, when the 

 birds soon scratch it into a heap again, and continue laying ; the eggs may generally be found 

 during November and December. Tlie old black's knew exactly when to look for them ; they 

 always say they have eggs when the lire-fiy first appears, which is usually after late spring 

 rains. (Jne should always be careful in dismantling a Brush Turkey's nest, as it is a great 

 harbour for snakes; on one occasion I saw a blackfellow throw one out in the rubbish with his 

 hands. Large lizards devour a great number of the lirush Turkey's eggs. When come upon 

 suddenly these birds prefer to escape by running, but will always spring up into a tree on 

 pursuit by a dog, where they hop from branch to branch till they get well up, and remain there 

 for a long time. A Cedar-getter's old camp nearly always contained a dog for the purpose 

 of 'treeing' them, which would bark when one was put up, and the poor Brush Turkey then fell 

 an easy victim to the gunner. I have seen the blacks chase them on foot, shouting out loudly, 

 and throwing Paddymelon sticks as they charged after them. They generally managed to 

 make them fly into the trees, when they were secured." 



Mr. W. M. Thomas, District Surveyor, of the Lands Office, Grafton, New South Wales, wrote 

 me as follows in February, igii :— "The Brush Turkey (Tath-galliis lathaiui) m the early days of 

 settlement was very abundant in the Illawarra District, but had been almost completely shot out 

 before I was old enough to search those brushes for sport and observation. I was much surprised, 

 early in 1S98, to be shewn in Nyngan a very fine male bird, wlucli had been caui^ht in a rabbit 

 pit a few days previously, on f-Ioneybugle Station, some twenty-five miles south-west of Nyngan. 

 The bird was unknown to all who saw it. I know of no other specimen having been seen within 



