GRALLATORES. 211 



body being nearly the size of that of a hen Pheasant, and it 

 has also longer legs than any of the others. I have seen 

 specimens from Swan River, South Australia, and New South 

 Wales, in all of which countries it is equally common, wherever 

 districts occur suitable to its habits and mode of life. Sandy 

 plains, the crowns and sides of grassy hills, and flats between 

 the mountain ridges, particularly those that are of a rougli 

 and stony character, are the situations it usually frequents, 

 and where it is mostly met with in pairs, but is occasionally 

 seen in small companies of from eight to ten or more in 

 number ; it is at all times a shy bird, and it requires some 

 degree of stratagem to approach it within gunshot. It runs 

 with great facility, and when not disposed to take wing 

 squats on the ground by the side of a stone or a prostrate 

 log of wood, and there remains so close as almost to admit of 

 being trodden upon before it will rise. Upon an intruder 

 approaching the vicinity of its young, it employs many 

 enticing actions to attract his notice to itself, and if possible 

 lead him away from the spot; at one moment assuming 

 lameness to such an extent as to appear incapable of walking, 

 at other times hanging down its wings as if escape by flight 

 was impossible, yet withal is so wary that I never knew one 

 captured by the hand, or obtained by any other means than 

 by shooting it. While walking about the plains, it is a 

 stately and imposing bird ; and, when on the wing, it mounts 

 high in the air with a quick, rather laboured motion of the 

 wings, does not fly to any great distance, but usually pitches 

 again in some clear place among the trees, and seeks safety 

 by running off" and secreting itself among the bushes or 

 squatting on the ground. On the approach of evening and 

 during the early part of the night, its loud, harsh, and 

 peculiar cry, resembling the words loee-lo two or three times 

 repeated, is often heard. It chiefly feeds at night upon 

 insects of various kinds and berries. 



The eggs are invariably two in number, and are deposited 



p 2 



