250 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



chisel before they could be extricated. The insides 

 of the mounds were always hot. 



Mr. Gould's accounts of these interesting birds 

 yield, however, in singularity to those of his cor- 

 respondent Mr. Gilbert, from whose notes we 

 shall take the following extraordinary facts con- 

 nected with the history of the Australian jungle 

 fowl, Megapodius tumulus of ornithologists. This 

 bird is rather numerously spread over the whole 

 of the Cobourg peninsula on the north coast of 

 the Australian continent, where the British settle- 

 ment of Port Essington is now established. On 

 Mr. Gilbert's arrival at Port Essington, his atten- 

 tion was attracted to numerous immense mounds 

 of earth which were pointed out to him by some 

 would-be antiquarians among the residents as the 

 tumuli of the Aborigines. The natives, however, 

 who were not quite so learned, assured him that 

 they were formed by the jungle fowl for the pur- 

 pose of incubating its eggs. None of the anti- 

 quarians would, however, listen to this account of 

 their origin, although they had never been at the 

 pains to examine into their real character. Mr. 

 Gilbert, being aware of the habits of the leipoa, 

 just described, felt strongly disposed to take the 



