i88 Allen's naturalist's library. 



earth around and attached to the shell, thus showing a beau- 

 tiful provision of Nature in preparing the necessary tender food 

 for the young bird on its emergence ; one of the eggs I have 

 preserved shows the White Ants' tracks most plainly. The 

 largest mound I saw, which appeared as if in a state of pre- 

 paration for eggs, measured forty-five feet in circumference, and 

 if rounded in proportion on the top, would have been full five 

 feet in height. I remarked that, in all the mounds not ready 

 for the reception of eggs, the inside or vegetable portion was 

 always wet and cold, and I imagine, from the state of others, 

 that the bird turns out the whole of the materials to dry before 

 depositing its eggs and covering them up with the soil. In both 

 cases where I found eggs, the upper part of the mound was 

 perfectly and smoothly rounded over, so that anyone passing 

 it without knowing the singular habit of the bird might very 

 readily suppose it to be an ant-hill; mounds in this state 

 always contain eggs within, while those without eggs are not 

 only not rounded over, but have the centres so scooped out 

 that they form a hollow. The eggs are deposited in a very 

 different manner from those of the Megapodius ; instead of each 

 being placed in a separate excavation in different parts of the 

 mound, they are laid directly in the centre, all at the same 

 depth, separated only by about three inches of earth, and so 

 placed as to form a circle." 



Eggs. — When fresh, of a delicate pinky-white, but after re- 

 maining in the mound a few days, they become dirty reddish- 

 brown. Shell very thin. Average measurements, 3-5 by 2-3 

 inches. 



THE BRUSII-TURKEYS. GENUS TALEGALLUS. 



Talegalliis, Lesson, Voy. " Coquille," i. pt. ii. p. 715 (1828). 



Type, T. cuvieri^ Less. 



Upper tail-coverts black, and not extending to the end of the 

 tail. 



Top of the head ccvered with nanoiv (sometimes hair-like) 



