T A L 



5 



T A L 



hatch its eggs by incubation. It collects together a great 

 heap of decaying: vegetables as the place of deposit of its 

 eii'us, thus making a hot-bed, arising from the decompo- 

 sition of the collected matter, by the heat of which the 

 young are hatched. Mr. Gould describes this heap as the 

 result of several weeks' collection by the birds previous to 

 the period of laying, as varying in quantity from two to 

 four cart-loads, and as of a perfectly pyramidical form. 

 This mound, he states, is not the work of a single pair of 

 birds, but is the result of the united labour of many : the 

 same site appeared to Mr. Gould to be resorted to for 

 several years in succession, from the great size and entire 

 decomposition of the lower part, the birds adding a fresh 

 supply of materials on each occasion previous to laying. 



' Tne mode,' says Mr. Gould in continuation, ' in which 

 the materials composing these mounds are accumulated is 

 equally singular, the bird never using its bill, but always 

 grasping a quantity in its foot, throwing it backwards to 

 one common centre, and thus clearing the surface of the 

 ground for a considerable distance so completely, that 

 scarcely a leaf or a blade of grass is left. The heap being 

 accumulated, and time allowed for a sufficient heat to be 

 engendered, the eggs are deposited, not side by side, as is 

 ordinarily the ca.-e, but planted at the distance of nine or 

 twelve inches from each other, and buried at nearly an 

 arm's depth, perfectly upright, with the large end up- 

 wards : they are covered up as they are laid, and allowed 

 to remain until hatched. I have been credibly informed, 

 both by natives and settlers living near their haunts, that 

 it is nut an unusual event to obtain nearly a bushel of I-LTLC-- 

 at one time from a single heap; and as they are delicious 

 fating, they arc eagerly sought after. Some of the natives 

 state that the females are' constantly in the neighbour- 

 hood of the heap about the time the" young are likely to 

 be hatched, and frequently uncover and cover them up 

 i. apparently for the purpose of assisting those that 

 may have appeared ; while others have, informed me that 

 the eirL's are merely deposited, and the young allowed to 

 force their way unassisted. In all probability, as nature 

 'lopted this mode of reproduction, she has also fur- 

 nished the tender birds with the power of sustaining them- 

 selves from the earliest period; and the great size of the 

 vould equally lead to this conclusion, since in so large 

 c il is reasonable to suppose that the bird would be 

 much more developed than is usually found in eggs of 

 Her dimensions. In further confirmation of this point, 

 I may add, that in searching fur cirirs in one of the mounds, 

 I discovered the remains of a young bird, apparently just 

 excluded from the shell, and which was clothed with fea- 

 ther,, not with down, as is usually the case : it is to be 

 hoped that those who are resident in Australia, in situa- 

 tions favourable for investigating the subject, will direct 

 their attention to the further elucidation of these inte- 

 resting points. The upright position of the eggs tends to 

 strengthen the opinion that they are never 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 for the breeding-season, I nevertheless saw several of 

 the heaps, both in the interior and at Illawarra: in every 

 instance they were placed in the most retired and shady 

 . and on the slope of a hill, the part above the nest 

 ehed clean, while all below remained untouched, 

 the birds had found it more easy to convey the ma- 

 terials down than to throw tlvm up. In one instance only 

 was I fortunate enough to find a pci 1'rct egg, although 

 the shells of many from which the young had been ex- 

 cluded were placed in the manner f have described. At 

 Illawarra they were rather deposited in the light vegetable 

 mould than amojig the leaves, which formed a considerable 

 i 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.' (Bird* of Australia.) 



The game author relates that these birds, while stalking 



about the wood, frequently utter a loud clucking noise; 



and. in \arion* parts of the bush, he observed depressions 



in the rarth, which the natives informed him were made 



by the birds in dusting themselves. The stomach is stated 



by \Ii.<!ouM to be extremely muscular ; and he found 



op of one which he dissected filled with seeds, ber- 



id a fuw in- 



The composure with which these birds sit to be shol at, 

 aa above noticed, must, as Mr. Gould observes, lead to an 



early extinction of the race ; an event, he remarks, much 

 to be regretted, since, independently of its being an inte- 

 resting bird for the aviary, its flesh is extremely delicate, 

 tender, and juicy. 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 homesteads and tables. Mr. Gould saw a living spe- 

 cimen, which was in the possession of Mr. Alexander 

 M'Leay for many years. ' On my arrival at Sydney,' says 

 Mr. Gould, ' this venerable gentleman took me into his 

 garden and showed me the bird, which, as if in its native 

 woods, had for two successive years collected an immense 

 mass of materials similar to those above described. The 

 borders, lawn, and shrubbery over which it was allowed 

 to range presented an appearance as if regularly swept, 

 from the bird having scratched to one common centre 

 everything that lay upon the surface : the mound in this 

 case was about three feet and a half high, and ten feet 

 over. On placing my arm in it, I found the heat to be 

 about 90 or 95 Fahr. The bird itself was strutting about 

 with a proud and majestic air, sometimes parading round 

 the heap, at others perching on the top, and displaying 

 its brilliantly coloured neck and wattle to the greatest 

 advantage : this wattle it has the power of expanding and 

 contracting at will ; at one moment it is scarcely visible, 

 while at another it is extremely pronrnent.' 



Before Mr. Gould left New South Wales, this bird, 

 which, during the greater part of the period when it was 

 in Mr. M'Leay's possession, was at large, and usually 

 associated with the fowls in the poultry-yard, was unfor- 

 tunately drowned in a tank or water-butt. On dissection 

 it was found to be a male, thereby proving, as Mr. Gould 

 remarks, that the sexes are equally employed in forming 

 the mound for the reception of the eggs. 



Locality. Mr. Gould states that the extent of the 

 range of this species over Australia is not yet satisfac- 

 torily ascertained. It is known, he says, to inhabit various 

 parts of New South Wales from Cape Howe on the south 

 to Moreton Bay on the north ; but the cedar-cutters and 

 others, who so frequently hunt through the brushes of Ilia 

 warra and Maitland, have nearly extirpated it from those 

 localities, and it is now most plentiful in the dense and 

 little-trodden brushes of the Manning and Clarence. Mr. 

 Gould was at first led to believe that the country between 

 the mountain-ranges and the coast constituted its sole 

 habitat ; but he was agreeably surprised to find it in- 

 habiting the scrubby gullies and sides of the lower hills 

 that branch off from the great range into the interior. 

 He procured specimens on the Brezi range to the north of 

 Liverpool Plains, and ascertained that it was abundant in 

 all the hills on either side of the Namoi. (Ibid.) 



Talegnlla Lalharai. (Gould.; 



M. Lesson describes the species from New Guinea, 

 which serves as the type of his genus Talegalla Cuvirri, 

 figured in the Zoohgie de la Coquitte, as entirely black, of 

 the size of a common small hen, and recalling to the ob- 

 server some of the forms of the Porphyriones. [RALI.ID/E, 

 vol. xix., p. 281.] 



The history of Talegalla, affords a striking instance of 

 the futility oi" classification based upon reasoning which 

 has no sufficient data for its foundation : most of the errors 



