NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 139 



proper point, till, like the patent incubator, it is fit for 

 hatching the eggs, he would stand a very good chance of 

 being set down as a member of the great family of Mun- 

 chausen, of adventurous and marvellous memory. But 

 nothing is more true. 



The brush tiirhey belongs to a family of birds — or, if 

 you wish to be hypercritical, learned reader, a sub-family 

 — which never incubate, but having collected vegetable 

 materials — which they know will heat to a proper point 

 without, like an ill-saved hayrick, bursting out into com- 

 bustion, or getting up into a sullen baking point, which 

 would be equally destructive of the vital principle — 

 leave their eggs to the genial warmth of this half-natural, 

 half-artificial mother. 



The genera of this family at present known are Talle- 

 galla, Leipoa, and Megapodius, all inhabitants of that 

 marvellous country which seems to be a remnant still 

 left to give us a notion of a very ancient state of this 

 planet. 



Tallegalla Lathami has been in its time a sore puzzle 

 to systematists. More than one have made it a vulture, 

 and have seized upon it as such to fill up a blank in a 

 favourite system. It is no such thing. If you wish to 

 see a perfect image of the bird, possess yourself of Mr. 

 Gould's admirable work on The Birds of Australia. 

 He has the merit of first clearing up this dark chapter in 

 ornithology, and any amusement or instruction which 

 may be derived from the perusal of this portion of this 

 paper is due to him. He is of opinion that the natural 

 situation of the bird is among the rasorial forms, and that 

 it is one of- a great family pecidiar to Australia and the 

 Indian Islands, of which Megapodius constitutes a part; 

 and in confirmation of his view he notices the two deep 

 emarginations of the sternum, so truly characteristic of 

 the gallinaceous race. He is right. 



The upper surface of the adult male, its wings and tail. 



