10C7 



TALEGALLA. 



TALEOALLA. 



1008 



buried at newly an arm'* depth, perfectly upright, with the large eud 

 upwards : they are corered up as they are laid, and allowed to remain 

 until hatched. I hare been credibly informed, both by natives and 

 settlers living near their haunt*, that it is not an unusual event to 

 obtain nearly a bushel of eggs at one time from a single heap ; and aa 

 they are delicious eating, they are eagerly sought after. Some of the 

 natives state that the females are constantly in the neighbourhood of 

 the heap about the time the young are likely to be hatched, and fre- 

 quently uncover and cover them up again, apparently for the purpose 

 of Moisting those that may have appeared ; while others have informed 

 me that the eggs are merely deposited, and the young allowed to 

 force their way unassisted. In all probability, as nature baa adopted 

 this mode of reproduction, she has also furnished the tender birds 

 with the power of sustaining themselves from the earliest period; and 

 the great size of the egg would equally lead to this conclusion, siuce 

 in so Urge a space it is reasonable to suppose that the bird would be 

 much more developed than is usually found in eggs of smaller dimen- 

 sions. In further conformation of this point, I may add, that in 

 searching for eggs in one of the mounds, I discovered the remains of 

 a young bin), apparently just excluded from the shell, and which was 

 clothed with feathers, not with down, as is usually the case : it is to 

 be hoped that those who are resident in Australia, in situations favour- 

 able for investigating the subject, will direct their attention to the 

 further elucidation of these interesting points. The upright position 

 of the eggs tends to strengthen the opinion that they are uever 

 disturbed after being deposited, as it is well known that the eggs of 

 birds which are placed horizontally are frequently turned during 

 incubation. Although unfortunately I was almost too late fur the 

 breeding-season, I nevertheless saw several of the heap?, both in the 

 interior and at Illawarra : in every instance they were placed in the 

 most retired and shady glens, and on the elope of a hill, the part above 

 the nest being scratched clean, while all below remained untouched, 

 as if the birds had found it more easy to convey the materials down 

 than to throw them up. In one instance only was I fortunate enough 

 to find a perfect egg, although the shells of many from which the 

 young bad been excluded were placed in the manner I have described. 

 At Illawarra they were rather deposited in the light vegetable mould 

 than among the leaves, which formed a considerable heap above them. 

 The eggs are perfectly white, of a long oval form, three inches and 

 three quarters long by two inches and a half in diameter." (' Birds 

 of Australia.') 



The same author relates that these birds, while stalking about the 

 wood, frequently utter a loud clucking noise ; and, in various parts of 

 the bush, he observed depressions in the earth, which the natives 

 informed him were made by the birds in dusting themselves. The 

 stomach is stated by Mr. Qould to be extremely muscular ; and he 

 found the crop of one which he dissected filled with seeds, berries, 

 and a few insects. 



The composure with which these birds sit to be shot at, as above 

 noticed, must, as Mr. Qould observes, lead to an early extinction of 

 the race ; an event, he remarks, much to be regretted, since, inde- 

 pendently of its being an interesting bird for the aviary, its flesh is 

 extremely delicate, tender, and juioy. There is no doubt that this 

 species may be domesticated, and it would make a noble addition to 

 those foreign denizens of the poultry-yard which enrich our home- 

 steads and tables. Living specimens are now (1855) existing in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park. 



M. tenon describes the species from New Guinea, which serves as 

 the type of bis genus TaltyaUa Curieri, figured in the ' Zoologie de la 

 Coquille,' as entirely black, of the size of a common small hen, and 

 recalling to the observer some of the forms of the I'orphyriones. 



We subjoin descriptions of the genus Leipoa, and a species of \feya- 

 podiui, which deposit their eggs in mounds as done by Tdryalla. 



Leipoa (Gould). Bill nearly as long as the head, slender, tumescent 

 at the base, the edges undulated and incurved at the base ; the nostrils 

 ample, oblong, covered with an operculum, and placed in a central 

 hollow ; head subcrested. Wings ample, rounded, concave ; fifth 

 primary quill the longest; the tertiaries nearly as lung as the primaries. 

 Tail rounded, tail-feathers 14. Tarsi moderate, robust, covered with 

 scuta anteriorly, and posteriorly with scales, which are rounded and 

 unequal Toes rather short ; lateral toes nearly equal. (Gould.) 



Head and Foot of Ltipoa. 



L. oeellala, Ooellated Leipoa (Gould). In size this beautiful bird is 

 inferior to T. Lalhami, and it is more slender and more elegantly 

 formed. According to Mr. Gould, it is the Ngow of the aborigines of 



the lowland ; Ngow-oo of the mountain districts of Western Australia; 

 and Native Pheasant of the colonists of Western Australia. 



Mr. Gould, in his ' Birds of Auntralin,' gives an account of this bird. 

 It is described as a ground-bird, never taking to a tree except when 

 closely hunted : when hard pin-sued, it will frequently run its head 

 into a bush, and is then easily t iken. Its food generally consists of 

 seeds and berries. The note is mournful, very much like that of a 

 pigeon, but with a more inward tone. The egg* are deposited in a 

 mound of sand, the formation of which is the work of both sexes. 

 According to the natives, the birds scratch up the sand for many yards 

 around, forming a mound about three feet in height, the inside of 

 which is constructed of alternate layers of dried leaves, grasses, &.C., 

 among which twelve eggs and upwards are deposited, and are covered 

 up by the birds as they are laid ; or, as the natives express it, " the 

 countenances of the eggs are never visible." Upon these eggs the 

 bird never sits, but when she has laid out her lay, as the henwives 

 say, the whole are covered up, when the mound of sand resembles an 

 ants' nest. The eggs, which are white, very slightly tinged with red, 

 and about the size of a common fowl's egg, arc hatched by the heat of 

 the sun's rays, the veg table lining retaining sufficient warmth during 

 the night : they are deposited in layers, no two eggs being suffered to 

 lie without a division. This bird is a native of Western AustniUi. 



Oeellated Leipoa (Leipoa oetllala). (Gould.) 



The species of ifegapodiut [CRAUD.G] which has the habit of these 

 birds, is M. tnmulut. It is thus described by Mr. Gould : Head and 

 crest very deep cinnamon-brown ; back of the neck and all the under 

 surface very dark gray ; bock and wings cinnamon-brown ; upper and 

 under tail-coverts dark chestnut-brown ; tail blackish-brown ; iridcs 

 generally dark-brown, but in some specimens light reddish-brown ; 

 bill reddish-brown, with yellow edges ; tarsi and feet bright orange, 

 the scales on the front of the tarsi from the fourth downwards, and 

 the scales of the toes, dark reddish-brown. Size about that of a com- 

 mon fowl. 



This is the Ooregoorga of the aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula ; 

 the Jungle-Fowl of the colonists of Port Essington. 



Head and Foot of Urgapoiiiu. (Gould.) 



Mr. Gould gives a highly interesting account of the habits of this 

 bird. He states that on Mr. Gilbert's arrival at Port Ksington, bin 

 attention was attracted to numerous great mounds of earth which wn 

 pointed out to him by some of the residents as being the tumuli of the 

 aborigines. The natives, on the other hand, assured him that they 

 were formed by the Jungle-Fowl for the purpose of hatching its eggs. 

 But this last statement appeared so extraordinary, and so much at 

 variance with the general habits of birds, that no one in the settle- 

 ment believed them, and the great size of the eggs brought in by them 

 oa the produce of this bird strengthened the doubt of the veracity of 

 their information. Mr. Gilbert however, knowing the habits of Leipoa, 

 took with him an intelligent native, and proceeded about the middle 

 of November to KnockePs Bay, a port of Port Essington harbour 

 comparatively but little known, and where he had been informed a 

 number of these birds were to be seen. He landed beside a thicket, 



