THE WATTLED TALEGALLA. 345 



throw them up. In one instance only was I fortunate enough 

 to find a perfect egg, although the shells of many from which 

 the young had been excluded were placed in the manner I 

 have described. At Ilia war ra they were rather deposited in 

 the light vegetable mould than among the leaves which 

 formed a considerable heap above them. The eggs are per- 

 fectly white, of a long oval form, three inches and three-quar- 

 ters long by two inches and a half in diameter : a fine egg of 

 this bird was subsequently presented to me by J. H. Plunkett, 

 Esq., Attorney General, New South Wales. 



" While stalking about the wood they frequently utter a 

 rather loud clucking noise ; and in various parts of the brush 

 I observed depressions in the earth, which the natives inform- 

 ed me were made by the birds in dusting themselves. 



" The stomach is extremely muscular, and the crop of one 

 dissected was filled with seeds, berries, and a few insects. 



" I have already alluded to its capability for domestication ; 

 and I have the gratification of adding, that a living specimen 

 was in the possession of Mr. Alexander MacLeay for several 

 years, during which it was mostly at large, and usually asso- 

 ciated with the fowls in the poultry-yard. On my arrival at 

 Sydney this venerable gentleman took me into his garden 

 and showed me the bird, which, as if in its native woods, had 

 for two successive years collected an immense mass of mate- 

 rials similar to those above described. The borders, lawn, 

 and shrubbery over which it was allowed to range presented 

 an appearance as if regularly swept, from the bird having 

 scratched to one common centre every thing that lay upon 

 the surface ; the mound in this case was about three feet and 

 a half high, and ten feet over. On placing my arm in it, I 

 found the heat to be about 90 or 95 Pahr. The bird itself 

 was strutting about with a proud and majestic air, sometimes 

 parading round the heap, at others perching on the top, and 

 displaying its brilliantly colored neck and wattle to the great- 

 est advantage ; this wattle it has the power of expanding and 

 contracting at will ; at one moment it is scarcely visible, while 

 at another it is extremely prominent. 



