88 IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS 



were. At length the incubator is in working order, 

 and egg-laying begins. 



The eggs, which are large and of a delicate 

 pinkish-brown colour, are ranged in tiers, each resting 

 on the smaller end in a vertical position. A layer of 

 sand covers the hot-bed, and a stratum protects each 

 tier, so that the eggs are enveloped in sand. The 

 temperature of the egg chamber varies from 90 

 degrees to 96 degrees F. The parent birds' duties do 

 not end when the full clutch of eggs is safely in the 

 incubator; they open the mound at intervals to pre- 

 vent the consolidation of the material, and render it 

 easy for the chicks from the eggs of the lower tiers 

 to reach the outer world. Those hatched from the top 

 row of eggs, being near the surface, scramble through 

 without much difficulty. 



Driving back to Ouyen from the scrub where the 

 Mallee-Fowls' mounds were located, we passed several 

 lonely homes. Once or twice we stopped for a few 

 minutes, to exchange greetings, discuss weather pros- 

 pects, and admire crops or "improvements." In a small 

 hut two brothers, well educated men, were living. 

 They gave us water, which was most acceptable. In 

 some parts of the Mallee a cup of cold water is no 

 mean gift, as I learned from a mild rebuke. Filling 

 the waterbag at a tank on a selection, I left the tap so 

 that drops fell from it slowly, as moisture slides from 

 a leaf after rain. 



"It's dripping, mister ; please turn it off," said the 

 settler. "You know, that water was carted ten miles." 



Nearly every Mallee homestead possesses a pet 

 of some kind. At a galvanised-iron shanty we were 

 introduced to a young Galah, perched on a soap box. 

 It was a greedy bird, and ate soft food, from a spoon 

 held to the beak by its owner, as eagerly as if it had 

 been starving for a week. 



Along the road hundreds of large golden-coloured 

 beetles were seen, darting through the air like toy 



