THE LOWAN. 63 



or four feeding, about the autumn ; probably birds bred 

 iu the neighbourhood. "What few I have seen killed 

 were chance birds. It is next to impossible to get up 

 to them on foot in the bare plains ; but like all other 

 bush-game, they take little notice of a bullock-dray or 

 horse, and are easily stalked under shelter of these. 

 They generally fly low, and as they rarely alter their 

 course, the best plan, if the shooter sees one flying 

 up to him on the plains, is to stand still, and he will 

 probably get a shot. The wild turkey is a fine-eating 

 bird, and worth about 1 in Melbourne, but you rarely 

 see one in the market; for where they do abound, nobody 

 cares to shoot for profit, and what are killed find their 

 way to the head station. They were very rare in the 

 Western-port district : the country is too deeply tim- 

 bered. The large open plains on the sheep-stations iu 

 the interior are the peculiar home of the wild turkey. 



The Loioan, or native hen, is peculiar to the country 

 in the vicinity of the " Mallee Scrub," in the interior, 

 a species of dwarf gum, about 12 feet high, and 

 smaller scrub, so tightly interlaced with the tendrils 

 of the native vine, as to render it impenetrable. 

 The lowan is a plain dull-coloured bird, brownish 

 black, a little larger than the common fowl, and lays 

 an immense egg for its size, in the sand. The birds 

 lay a number of eggs together, heaped up in the 

 form of a pyramid ; whence their name of the mound- 

 building bird of Australia. They are covered and 

 hatched in the sand, and, strange to say, the young 



