170 BIRDS Ol' AUSTRALIA. 



" Few birds arc more wary and less easily procured than 

 the Me(/aj)odius : it inhabits the belts of brush along the 

 coast, and I never found the tumulus at a greater distance 

 from the sea than a few hundred yards. When disturbed it 

 seldom rises at once, unless on the margin of a thicket, but 

 runs off to some distance and then takes to wing, flying 

 heavily, but without any of the whirring noise of the true 

 Gallinacea. It seldom takes a long flight, and usually perches 

 on a tree, remaining there in a crouching attitude with out- 

 stretched neck, but flying off again upon observing any mo- 

 tion made by its pursuer ; and it is only by cautiously sneak- 

 ing up under cover of the largest trees that it can be ap- 

 proached within gun-shot. As an example of its shyness, I 

 may mention that a party of three persons, scattered about in 

 a small jungle on Nogo Island, for the purpose of shooting the 

 Meffapodius, did not see a single bird, although they put up 

 several, one of which came towards me and perched, uncon- 

 scious of my presence, within twenty yards. At Port Essing- 

 ton I have shot this bird among mangroves, the roots of 

 which were washed by the sea at high water ; and Capt. F. P. 

 Blackwood killed one while running on the mud in a similar 

 locality, in both instances close to a mound. I never wit- 

 nessed the escape of the young from the mound ; but one, as 

 large as a quail, and covered with feathers, was brought to 

 Lieut. Ince by a native, who affirmed that he had dug it out 

 along with several eggs. 



" Iris yellowish brown ; stomach a complete gizzard, being 

 thick and muscular, containing small quartz pebbles, small 

 shells {Helix and Bulimus), and black seeds ; intestine 34 

 inches in length, of the size of a goose-quill, and nearly uni- 

 form in thickness, much twisted and contracted at intervals ; 

 caecum slender, dilated at the extremity, and 4f inches in 

 length." 



The late Mr. Elsey informed me that " the mounds of this 

 bird were observed in the dense bottle-scrubs of the lower 



