6o Australian Birds. 



" and the party went on There were several of the amazing 



" nests about, and these alone were worth going far to see. These 



' turkeys, or mcgapodcs, build gigantic nests like mounds, making them 

 ' of grass and leaves, which they collect by means of kicking them 

 ' backwards until they have made a hillock as large as a good-s-zed room. 

 ' Not a leaf or blade of grass is to be found anywhere within a distance 

 "of at least twenty feet of the nest, which contains many cartloads of 

 '■ material, and in this gigantic mound many turkeys lay their eggs in 

 " clutches close to each other, each mother bird, it would seem, keeping 

 ' to her own part of the mound. Presently the whole heap of green 



" material will begin to heat, and the eggs are hatched in a natural 

 " incubator. The young turkeys are able to look after themselves from 

 . " birth. As soon as they are born they peer cautiously out of the mound 

 " and then run off into the bush, where they begin scratching for worms 

 ' and grubs at once." 



" Thousands of cockatoos flew overhead. I saw one dead tallow- 

 " wood tree literally covered with the white cockatoos with lemon crests. 

 " which are ' noxious pests ' in Queensland, and another beautiful cockatoo, 

 " called ' gang-gang,' of grey and white with a brilliant crimson crest. 

 " But indeed I could not tell of a quarter of the birds I noticed 'n 

 " these scrubs." 



This book. Wanderings in the Queensland Bush, by W. 

 L Puxley, publishers George Allen & Unwin, los. 6d. net, is 

 fascinating' reading", though, at present, I have given it but a 

 hurried and perfunctory ]ierusal. The whole of the Australian 

 fnuna is described in the same popular and interesting style; the 

 descriptive references to the florafauna interested me greatly, 

 tl ough this is, of course, not for Bird Ncjtes. though they make 

 the setting of the avifauna and enable one more fully to visualise 

 the environment and wild life of some of the occupants of our 

 aviaries more clearly. 



In conclusion I must tender apologies and thanks to the 

 Author and publishers for liberties taken, and. I hope the sale 

 o^ some copies of this most interesting book may result there- 

 from, though my main object has been to interest and place 

 informative field notes before my readers. 



My Birds — In Aviaries and at Liberty. 



By Edward J. Boosey. 



I was somewhat chary at first of writing this article about 

 my birds, because they are, at the moment, so few in number. 



Nevertheless, to me at least they are an imfailing source 

 c f interest. 



