THE WATTLED TALEGALLA. 347 



" l The following account of the habits, manners, and nidifi- 

 cation of this bird have been detailed to me by G. Moore, 

 Esq., advocate-general, Mr. Armstrong, the aboriginal inter- 

 preter, and some of the more intelligent natives of Western 

 Australia. Mr. Moore saw a great many of them about sixty 

 miles north of Perth ; but its most favorite country appears 

 to be the barren sandy plains of the interior, 100 miles north 

 and east of York. It is a ground bird, never taking to a tree 

 except when closely hunted ; when pursued it will frequently 

 ran its head into a bush, and is then easily taken. In its 

 actions and manners it is very like the domestic fowl. Its 

 food generally consists of seeds and berries. It has a mourn- 

 ful note, very like that of a pigeon, but with a more inward 

 tone. The eggs are deposited in a mound of sand, the forma- 

 tion of which is the work of both sexes : the natives say they 

 scratch up the sand for many yards around, forming a mound 

 of about three feet in height ; the inside being constructed of 

 alternate layers of dried leaves, grasses, &c., among which 

 the eggs are deposited to the number of twelve and upwards, 

 and covered up by the birds as laid ; or, as the natives express 

 it, " the countenances of the eggs are never visible." The 

 bird never sits upon the eggs ; but when she has laid her 

 number, the whole are covered up, after which the mound of 

 sand resembles an ant's nest. The eggs are hatched by the 

 heat of the sun's rays, the vegetable lining of the hillock re- 

 taining sufficient warmth during the night : the eggs are de- 

 posited in layers, no two eggs being suffered to lie without a 

 division. They are about the size of a fowl's egg, and are 

 white, very slightly tinged with red. The natives are ex- 

 ceedingly fond of them, and rob the mounds two or three 

 times in a season ; they judge of the probable number of eggs 

 in the heap by the quantity of feathers lying around. If these 

 are abundant, they know the hillock is full, when they imme- 

 diately open it, and take the whole ; upon which the bird will 

 again commence laying, to be robbed a second time, and will 

 frequently lay a third time. Upon questioning one of the 

 men attached to Mr. Moore's expedition, he gave me a similar 



