INSESSORES. 305 



poor old bird, and, with its dead mother near it, the young 

 Meriura was soon silent and (juiet. It was taken away, and 

 kept at a * Mia-Mia ' erected in the midst of the sm-rounding 

 forest. 



" The following description will give you, as nearly as 

 possible, a correct idea of this interesting bird : — 



" Its height, from foot to crown of head, was sixteen inches. 

 The body was covered with a brown down, but the wings and 

 tail were already furnished with feathers of a dark brown colour. 

 The head was thickly covered with a greyish-white down, 

 from one to two inches in length. The eyes were hazel- 

 brown ; the beak blackish and soft ; the legs nearly as large 

 as those of a full-grown specimen ; but it walked most 

 awkwardly, with the legs bent inwards. When it rose, it did 

 so with difficulty, the wings assisting ; once on its legs, it ran 

 sometimes, often falling down, however, in consequence of 

 the want of strength to move properly the large and heavy 

 bones of its legs. It constantly endeavoured to approach the 

 camp-fire, attracted doubtless by the warmth, and it was a 

 matter of some difficulty to keep it from that dangerous 

 position. As I stated before, its cry was a high-sounding 

 ' tching-tching,' often heard during daytime, as if recalling 

 the parent bird. When this call was answered by its keeper, 

 feigning the note ' bullan-buUan,' which is an imitation of 

 the old bird's cry, it followed the voice at once, and was 

 easily led away by it. It became quite tame very shortly 

 after having been taken from the nest. It was always 

 voracious, refusing no food when offered ; it stood there with 

 the bill gaping, awaiting the approaching hand which held 

 the food, consisting principally of worms and the larvae of 

 ants, commonly called ants' eggs ; but it did not refuse bits 

 of meat, bread, &c. Sometimes it picked from the ground 

 ants' eggs itself, but was never able to swallow them, as 

 apparently the muscles of the neck had not attained sufficient 

 power to produce the i-equired jerk and throwing back of 



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