156 BIEDS or AUSTRALIA. 



of the Leipoa's eggs, and had not proceeded far before the 

 native who was with me told me to keep a good look-out, as 

 we were among the ISgou-oos hillocks ; and in half-an-hour 

 after we found one, around which the brush was so thick that 

 we were almost running over it before seeing it. So anxious 

 was I to see the hidden treasures within, that in my haste I 

 threw aside the black fellow and began scraping off the upper 

 part of the mound ; this did not at all please him, and he be- 

 came very indignant, at the same time making me understand 

 ' that as I had never seen this nest before I had better trust 

 to him to get out the eggs, or I should, in my haste and im- 

 patience, certainly break them.' I therefore let him have his 

 own way, and he began scraping off the earth very carefully 

 from the centre, throwing it over the side, so that the mound 

 very soon presented the appearance of a huge basin ; about 

 two feet in depth of earth was in this way thrown off, when 

 the large ends of two eggs met my anxious gaze j both these 

 eggs were resting on their smaller apex, and the earth round 

 them had to be very carefully removed to avoid breaking the 

 shell, which is extremely fragile when first exposed to the atmo- 

 sphere. About a hundred yards from this first mound we 

 came upon a second, rather larger, of the same external form 

 and appearance ; it contained three eggs. Although we saw 

 seven or eight more mounds, only these two contained eggs : 

 we were too early ; a week later and we should doubtless have 

 found many more. To give you an idea of the place these 

 birds choose for their remarkable mode of rearing their young, 

 I will describe it as nearly as I can : — The Wongan Hills are 

 about thirteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, in a 

 north-north-east direction from Drummond's house in the 

 Toodyay : their sides are thickly clothed with a dense forest 

 of Eucalypti \ and at their base is a thicket, extending for se- 

 veral miles, of upright-growing and thick bushy plants, so- 

 high in most parts that we could not see over their tops, and 

 so dense, that if we separated only for a few yards, we were 



