THE MALLEE COUNTRY 85 



to seek mounds of the Mallee-Fowl. The journey 

 afoot was not long, but rough, and my legs ached. 

 Across acres of land, on which the "rolled" scrub lay 

 thickly, we toiled, along a sand ridge capped with 

 Pines, and down into the Mallee. Though the scrub 

 was fairly dense, our guide, who knew every foot of 

 the block, chose easy tracks, and with a little care for 

 low boughs and some dodging and scrambling, we 

 made good progress. Bird life was abundant, and 

 several nests were noticed. But we were after bigger 

 game than Honey-eaters and Wrens, and let nothing 

 detain us long on the way to the Lowan's mound. 



"Just through there," said the guide, pointing 

 down a natural avenue, with a little glade beyond. 

 And a minute later we stood beside the mound. When 

 wind stirred the branches long thin shadows rippled 

 over the miniature pyramid, which was not in the 

 centre of the glade, but on the western side, close to 

 the palisade of trees. 



The guide, after a brief inspection, remarked that 

 the mound looked "all right," but it was possible that 

 somebody had "been around." Under the Game Act, 

 Lowans and their eggs are protected, but there are 

 many people who care little for laws, when they run 

 counter to their own desires. Mallee-Fowl's eggs are 

 delicacies, and, even in sparsely settled districts, the 

 mounds are not safe from pilfering hands. I ex- 

 amined five mounds in one locality, and each was 

 empty. Dingoes and Foxes, of course, dig out and 

 eat eggs, but man is, perhaps, the worst enemy with 

 which the Lowan has to contend. When the "tucker 

 box" is low, and delicious eggs are obtainable, it is 

 not strange that a settler should yield to temptation. 

 Unless a very extensive area of the Mallee country is 

 strictly reserved as a sanctuary, the Lowan must ulti- 

 mately become extinct in Victoria. 



Our guide's fears that the mound in the glade had 

 been robbed were well founded. When it was opened 



