The Mound-Bird of Australia. 311 



out to the native, and asking him what it was, he replied, 

 * Oooregoorga Eambal,' Jungle-fowls' house or nest. I 

 then scrambled up the sides of it, and, to my extreme de- 

 light, found a young bird in a hole about two feet deep ; 

 it was lying on a few dry withered leaves, and appeared 

 only a few days old. So far I was satisfied that these 

 mounds had some connection with the bird's mode of in- 

 cubation; but I was still sceptical as to the probability 

 of these young birds ascending from so great a depth as 

 the natives represented, and my suspicions were con- 

 firmed by my being unable to induce the native, in this 

 instance, to search for the eggs, his excuse being that he 

 knew it would be no use, as he saw no traces of the old 

 birds having recently been there. I took the utmost 

 care of the young bird, intending to rear it if possible ; 

 I therefore obtained a moderate-sized box, and placed in 

 it a large portion of sand. As it fed rather freely on 

 bruised Indian corn, I was in full hopes of succeeding ; 

 but it proved of so wild and intractable a disposition, that 

 it would not reconcile itself to such close confinement, and 

 effected its escape on the third day. During the period 

 it remained in captivity, it was incessantly occupied in 

 scratching up the sand into heaps, and the rapidity with 

 which it threw the sand from one end of the box to the 

 other was quite surprising for so young and small a bird, 

 its size not being larger than that of a small quail. 



" At night it was so restless, that I was constantly 

 kept awake by the noise it made in its endeavours to 

 escape. In scratching up the sand it only used one foot, 

 and having grasped a handful, as it were, the sand was 

 thrown behind it, with but little apparent exertion, and 

 without shifting its standing position on the other leg : 

 this habit seemed to be the result of an innate restless 

 disposition, and a desire to use its powerful feet, and to 

 have but little connection with its feeding ; for although 

 Indian corn was mixed with the sand, I never detected 

 the bird in picking any of it up while thus employed. 



" I continued to receive the eggs without having any 

 opportunity of seeing them taken from the mound until 

 the 6th of February ; when, on again visiting Knocker's 

 Bay, I had the gratification of seeing two taken from a 



