LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



presents the appearance of an ant's-nest. The 

 eggs, which are about the size of three of a com- 

 mon fowl, white, slightly tinged with red, are 

 thus left to be hatched by the heat of the sun's rays, 

 the vegetable materials retaining sufficient warmth 

 to keep them at a proper temperature during the 

 night ; for the eggs are deposited in layers, and 

 no two eggs are suffered to lie without an inter- 

 vening division. 



The hillocks are robbed by the natives two or 

 three times in the course of a season, and they 

 conclude that the number of eggs in a mound is 

 many or few by the quantity of feathers scattered 

 about. If there be abundance of feathers it is a sign 

 that the hillock is full, and they immediately open 

 it and take the whole deposit. The hen then lays 

 again, and when her complement is complete is 

 again robbed, when she will frequently lay a third 

 time. In the mounds ants are often found as 

 numerous as in an ant-hill ; and sometimes that part 

 of the hillock which surrourxls the lower portion 

 of the eggs becomes so hard that a chisel is neces- 

 sary to get them out. 



Captain Gray, of the 83d regiment, informed 

 Mr. Gould that he had never met witti these nest- 

 mounds except where the soil was dry and sandy, 

 and so thickly covered with a dwarf species of 

 Leptospermum as to render it almost impossible for 

 a traveller to force his way through if he strays 

 from the native paths. In those close scrubiy 

 woods small open glades occur occasionally, and 

 there he found the ngow-oo's nest, consisting of a 

 heap of sand, dead grass and boughs, three feet in 

 height, nine in diameter, and sometimes larger. 



In size, this beautiful bird is less than the brush 

 turkey. It keeps much on the ground, seldom 

 taking to a tree if not closely pursued. When 

 hard pressed it will often run its head into a bush 

 and is there taken. The food, like ,that of tale- 

 galla, consists principally of seeds and berries, am 

 it utters a mournful note, very like that of a 

 pigeon, but more inward in sound. 



But the most remarkable of this extraordinary 

 group is the Ooeregoorga of the aborigines of th 

 Coburg Peninsula, known to the colonists of For 

 Essington as the jungle-fowl.* 



The head and crest of this great-footed bird 

 deep cinnamon brown, the hue of the neck and al 

 the under surface is dark gray. The back am 

 wings are cinnamon brawn, and the upper am 

 under tail-coverts are dark chestnut brown. Th 

 general color of the irides is dark brown, but i: 

 some individuals light reddish brown. The red 

 dish brown bill is bordered with yellow edges 

 The legs and feet bright orange, and the siz 

 about that of the common fowl. 



When Mr. Gilbert, who assisted Mr. Gould i 

 collecting the materials for his grand work on th 

 Australian birds, arrived at Port Essington, nu 

 merous great mounds of earth were pointed out t 

 him by some of the residents who, probably 

 belonged to the Society of Antiquaries as bein 



* Megapodius tumulus. 



tumuli of the aborigines. The natives told 

 im not to listen to these wise men, and assured 

 im, that so far from being the burying-places of 

 e human biped, they were the nests in which the 

 gs of the ooeregoorga were hatched. No one 

 n the settlement believed a story that contradicted 

 11 the usual experiences of the incubation of 

 irds, and when the natives brought in some of 

 ic large-sized eggs in confirmation of their state- 

 ment, they were treated as lawyers sometimes are 

 ;hen they try to make their case too good, and 

 le doubt previously entertained was strengthened, 

 >ut Mr. Gilbert happened to know something of 



habits of Leipoa, so he took to himself a know- 

 ng native, and about the middle of November pre- 

 ceded to Knocker's Bay, a portion of Port 

 issington harbor very little known, but where he 

 ad been told a considerable number of these birds 

 night be seen. He landed close to a thicket, and 

 ad proceeded but a short distance from the shore 

 vhen he beheld a mound of 'sand and shells, with 

 slight mixture of black soil, whose base rested 

 n the sandy beach, a few feet above high-water 

 nark. The large yellow-blossomed Hibiscus 

 nveloped this conical tumulus, which was some 

 ve feet high, and twenty feet in circumference at 

 ts base. He turned to his native, and asked what 

 t was. 



" Oregoorga rambal." (Jungle fowl's house 

 ir nest.) 



Up scrambled Mr. Gilbert, and sure enough 

 bund a young bird in a hole about two feet deep, 

 apparently but a few days old, and lying on a few 

 dry leaves. The native protested to Mr. Gilbert 

 that it would be of no use to hunt for eggs, as 

 there were no traces of the old birds having been 

 ately there, so our collector secured the nestling, 

 placed it in a good-sized box with a sufficiency of 

 sand, and fed it with bruised Indian corn, which 

 it took lather freely ; but it was wild and un- 

 tractable, and on the third day it contrived to es- 

 cape from its prison. But while it remained in 

 the box, it was incessantly employed in scratching 

 up the sand into heaps, and although it was not 

 larger than a small quail, the vigor and rapidity 

 with which it threw the sand from one end of the 

 place of its confinement to the other, was quite 

 surprising. Poor Mr. Gilbert got but little sleep 

 while it was in his custody, for it was so restless 

 at night; that it kept him awake by the noises it 

 made in endeavoring to gain its liberty. Only 

 one foot was employed in scratching up the sand, 

 and when the bird had grasped a footful it threw 

 the sand behind it with small exertion, and with- 

 out shifting its standing position on the other leg. 

 This exertion seemed to Mr. Gilbert to proceed 

 from mere restlessness, and a desire to use its pow- 

 erful feet without having much, if any, connection 

 with feeding ; for Mr. Gilbert neve* detected the 

 bird in picking up any of the Indian corn which 

 was mixed with the sand while thus employed. 



Eggs were continually brought to Mr. Gilbert ; 

 but he had no opportunity of seeing them taken 

 from the ground till the commencement of Feb- 



