12 Mr. D. Le Souefo« Me 



sand is scraped together with both the feet and the wings, 

 the latter being used especially when getting the sand well 

 up on the mound, which, when finished, often measures at 

 the base 12 feet in diameter and in the centre from 2 to 4 

 feet high, and as the sand is generally dry and runs freely, 

 it is no easy matter for the birds to heap it up as they do. 

 The various measurements given are about the average, as 

 they differ more or less in every mound. The nest being 

 ready for eggs, the hen bird scrapes out most of the sand 

 from the egg-cavity, and, leaving about 2 inches of it at the 

 bottom, she then lays her egg, and holding it upright with 

 one foot, with the small end downwards, she scrapes the 

 sand round it with the other foot until it can stand alone. 

 The bird has to lean well back to enable her to use both her 

 feet. She then covers the whole over with sand. The egg- 

 cavity has to be scraped out and refilled every time an egg 

 is laid, giving much work to the parent birds. The eggs 

 are generally placed at the outer edge of the chamber and 

 one often in the centre. The first eggs are covered up 

 with about two inches of sand over them, and a second tier 

 commenced, each egg being laid opposite the interspaces of 

 the lower lot. There are generally three tiers, with from 

 three to five eggs in each, and a full clutch is about 14. 

 I have always found the temperature of the egg-cavity to be 

 from 95° to 96°. The eggs are laid at daybi'eak on every 

 third day, and incubation takes a little over five weeks. As 

 incubation starts as soon as the egg is laid, the young ones 

 are ready to hatch at different times. The eggs are usually 

 of a delicate pink-colour, especially when first laid, but 

 the pink colouring-matter easily comes off, especially after 

 the egg has been taken out of the nest for some little time, 

 and leaves the white under-surface exposed ; occasionally 

 1 have found all the eggs in one mound pure white. Tiie 

 shell is very fragile, and one reason why the eggs are placed 

 on end is evidently to sustain the weight of sand with which 

 they are covered ; the sand round the eggs is generally slightly 

 damp. Sometimes, when the parent bird is opening up the 

 mound, she scratches a hole in the top of one of the eggs, 



