QUEENSLAND and NORTHERN TERRITORY 43 



as the temperature varies. Along Southern Aus- 

 tralia in a great belt of mallee timber the silent 

 Mallee Fowl is to be found. 



In the north of the continent we have the Scrub 

 Fowl (Megapode) and parallel with the east coast, 

 as shown in the map the Jungle Turkey (Cathe- 

 turus.). 



In family ways all three are much alike, the 

 young hatching out and flying the following day. 

 The eggs are specially large in order to supply 

 food to develop the feathers before the bird leaves 

 the egg to face the world. The Mallee Fowl lives 

 in that portion of the Commonwealth which is dry 

 and hot while the other mound nesters for centuries 

 have occupied the moist, hot, coastal areas. 

 Originally they built in trees judging by their free 

 finger tips. 



Emus keep out of the forest tangles while the 

 next of kin the Cassowary lives exclusively within 

 it on the Queensland coast. The Australian sub- 

 region has only this one of nineteen species. The 

 Papuan has the balance of which seven are found 

 on New Guinea and eleven on the small islands of 

 it. The geographical range of the only species of 

 Emu is over D, of map 15. Some few years ago 

 and in the memory of early explorers several other 

 species lived. The Tasmanian d^ was the last to 

 go. About this time d^ of King Island disappeared 

 and d^ of Kangaroo Island. Those far away 

 islands, the Galapagos, have forty-two species of 



