1922.J Mound-building Birds of Australia. 705 



, o£ the future mound, Mr. G. H. Mann writes me, 10 March, 

 1922, that " From my observations it seems that they scratch 

 out a hole early in the winter and then fill it up with a 

 cone-shaped heap of dry leaves and sticks : these they cover 

 with sand about the end of the winter." 



These sticks and leaves ultimately become largely inter- 

 mixed with the sand, but the leaves and twigs are mostly below 

 the eggs. Most of the mounds in the belt of Mallee before 

 referred to, vfere when finished nine feet to twelve feet 

 across, with a depression in the middle, and raised about two 

 feet above the normal level of the ground. Mr. J. E. Lewis 

 Machell, of the Education Department in Adelaide, furnished 

 me with some very valuable observations in a letter dated 

 4 March, 1922 ; I give them in full. "■ I am forwarding 

 the answers to your queries re Mallee-Fowl. These are 

 simply notes and observations made by me during 1914, 

 together with a photograph taken at Murray Bridge in 

 January last. Nest, fifteen feet in diameter and about 

 two feet six inch(!s high, situated in an open space in a scrub 

 of so-called ' broom ' with occasional Mallee : soil sandy. 

 Com})Osition of nesting-mound, central portion decaying leaves 

 and vegetation covered with sand. There is a depression in 

 the centre, and eggs are laid around the rim of this hollow. 

 Before making the nest a small hollow is scraped out ; the one 

 I mentioned was only about five inches deep and two feet six 

 inches wide, and was filled with leaves and twigs. The eggs 

 did not appear to be laid down as far as the leaves. Many 

 were standing on end, but not all. I may have disturbed them 

 when opening up the nest. The sand was fairly dry where 

 the eggs were, but not as dry as in other parts of the nest. 

 Foxes robbed the nests as fast as the eggs were laid 

 (note fox-tracks on mound in i)hotogra))h). In 1914 I 

 had the pleasure of watching the birds at work, but it 

 meant Ivin^r hidden from 6 o'clock in the morniuii until 

 10 o'clock. I couhl hear the birds moving around, but 

 they did not appear. About 10 A.i\r. (when the sun was 

 shining directly on the nest), the male and female apj)eared 

 on the mound. The female stayed, but the nuile disajjpearcri 



