SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 61 



interested in their curious habits that he first published his records in the 

 Tastnanian Journal. Wood, in his " Homes without Hands," gives a some- 

 what imaginary picture of a party of blackfellows digging out the eggs. 

 Several writers have remarked upon the survival of these birds in our fauna, 

 when their nests were so easily found by the natives, and it has been 

 suggested that the different tribes had some form of protection among 

 themselves to keep the birds from extinction. Up to the time of the 

 agricultural settlement of the mallee lands of Victoria, these birds were fairly 

 common : and though natives are plentiful, and food supplies not too- 

 abundant, the Mallee-hens hold their own in Western Australia. Giles, in 

 bis " Australia Twice Traversed," says, speaking of the Mount Margaret 

 district, that the eggs of the Lowan were a great adjunct to their camp fare, 

 and records collecting seventy of these eggs in two days, in spite of the fact 

 that wild natives were numerous, and were also digging out the eggs. 



The Mallee-hen is about the size of a domestic barnyard fowl, of a uniform 

 brownish-yellow colour, with the feathers mottled in the centre with light 

 brown, so that the general colour harmonises with the dull-red and browns 

 of the soil of the mallee scrub. Standing erect, she is a handsome bird, with 

 well-developed wings, broad tail, stout legs, and large feet, admirably adapted 

 for scratching out food and scraping up earth, leaves, and mould, in the 

 formation of her large, rounded, dome-shaped nest. 



The mound nest is constructed in the shelter of the scrub, and when the 

 whole of the surrounding surface has been swept up, the nest measures about 

 4 feet in height and 12 feet in diameter at the base. The male and female 

 share in the work of scraping up the damp leaf-mould and sand, and upon 

 completion of their task open out the centre. The female deposits the eggs 

 in three circles of four or five eggs each, or a total of fifteen eggs, so that 

 there are three layers, one above the other, in this wonderful forcing bed. 



During the season, the female lays one egg, in the early mornings, every 

 third day, and covers it with sand and leaf-mould. The eggs are very large 

 in proportion to the size of the birds, and have very thin shells, of a pink 

 biscuit-brown tint. As there is such a long interval between the date of 

 laying of the first and last egg of the clutch, the young chicks come out at 

 irregular periods ; but the Mallee-hen understands her work, and before the 

 young birds are expected, opens out her nest, to allow the escape of the 

 newly-hatched chicks. The baby Mallee-hens are feathered on emergence, 

 can run and fly, and are able to hunt for their own food ; but the parent 

 birds feed close by in the scrub, and gather together the nestlings as they 

 leave the mound into a family party. 



The Mallee-hens are insectivorous, and find their food on the ground, so- 

 that they must do a great deal in keeping down all kinds of ground insects, 

 inhabiting the open forest country. 



