16 Mr. D. Le Souef o;j the 



They are easily kept in confinement^ but, being very pug- 

 nacious, the males have to be separated wlien the nesting- 

 season comes on. Two years ago, in the Melbourne 

 Zoological Gardens, there were several of these birds in one 

 enclosure. They made a mound, but had not enough vege- 

 tation in it to cause sufficient heat to hatch the 56 eggs 

 that were laid, consequently these were all addled. Last 

 season only a pair were left in, and I had the mound made 

 up for them, and when one bird had finished laying I had 

 another put in ; she also laid in the mound, one bird laying 

 12 eggs and the other 13. Seventeen young were hatched 

 and made their own way out ; 16 of these were reared to 

 maturity, and one died immediately on escaping from the 

 mound. The other eight eggs were addled. 



3. Barnard's Brush-Turkey (CafAe^MrM5jOMrj9Mmco//i5*). 

 This bird differs considerably in the coloration of the 



neck of the male bird from the Caf.heturus lathami, but its 

 habits are practically the same. It is found in Cape York 

 only, and has not the extensive range of its congener. 



Mr. H. G. Barnard states that during the time of his 

 visit to Cape York in October, November, December, and 

 January, the season having been exceptionally dry and very 

 little rain having fallen, hardly any of the birds laid, and 

 the many mounds he tried were all empty. He found only 

 one egg, and that in January, showing how much weather 

 affects birds nesting. 



4. Duperrey's Scrub-Fowl [Megapodius duperreyi). 



These hirds are found on the north-east coast of Queens- 

 land, always inhabiting the densest scrub, and never very 

 far from the coast, and in the low-lving country on each 

 side of many of the tidal rivers for a short distance 

 inland. They are also found on many of the small scrub- 

 covered islands of the coast, and although the birds are 

 very poor filers, they must have winged their way out to the 

 islands somehow, as in many cases they are situated a good 



* Talegallus purpureicoUis, Le Souef, Ibis, 1898, p. 51, 



