FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



859 



gaged from decaying vegetable substances, 

 preserved sufficient warmth to hatch the 

 eggs. The size of some of these mounds is 

 quite marvelous. One which was measured 

 proved to be fifteen feet high and sixty feet 

 in circumference. The whole of this enor- 

 mous mass was made by the jungle fowl. 

 If the hand be inserted into the interior of 

 the heap it will always be found quite hot. 

 In almost every case the mound is placed 

 under the shelter of densely leaved trees. 

 This precaution is probably taken to prevent 

 the rays of the sun from evaporating the 

 moisture. The bird seems to deposit its 

 eggs by digging holes from the top of the 

 mound, laying the egg at the bottom, and 

 then making its way out again, throwing 

 back the earth it had scooped away. The 

 holes are not dug perpendicularly, so that 

 although they are six or seven feet in length 

 they may be only two or three feet from the 

 surface. The leipoa, or native pheasant of 

 Australia, like the preceding, lays its eggs in 

 a mound of earth and leaves, but the mound 

 is not nearly so large. Another bird having 

 this curious nesting habit is the brush turkey 

 of New South Wales. In the Guide to the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society of London 

 an interesting account of the construction of 

 the mound by some captive birds is to be 

 found. " On being removed into an in clos- 

 ure with an abundance of vegetable mate- 

 rial within reach, the male begins to throw 

 it up into a heap behind him by a scratching 

 kind of motion of his powerful feet, which 

 projects each footful as he grasps it for a 

 considerable distance in the rear. As he 

 always begins to work at the outer margin 

 of the inclosure, the material is thrown in- 

 ward in concentric circles until sufficiently 

 near the spot selected for the mound to be 

 jerked upon it. As soon as the mound is 

 risen to a height of about four feet, both 

 birds work in reducing it to an even surface, 

 and then begin to excavate a depression in 

 the center. In this in due time the eggs 

 are deposited as they are laid and arranged 

 in a circle about fifteen inches below the 

 summit of the mound at regular intervals 

 with the smaller end of the egg pointing 

 downward. The male bird watches the tem- 

 perature of the mound very carefully; the 

 eggs are generally covered, a cylindrical open- 

 ing being always maintained in the center of 



the circle for the purpose of giving air to 

 them, and probably to prevent the danger of 

 a sudden increase of heat from the action of 

 the sun or accelerated fermentation in the 

 mound itself. In hot days the eggs are nearly 

 uncovered two or three times between morn- 

 ing and evening. On the young bird chip- 

 ping out of the egg it remains in the mound 

 for at least twelve hours without making any 

 effort to emerge from it, being at that time 

 almost as deeply covered up by the male as 

 the rest of the eggs. On the second day it 

 comes out. Early in the afternoon it retires 

 to the mound again and is partially covered 

 up for the night by the assiduous father. 

 On the third day the nestling is capable of 

 strong flight." 



Indiana Academy of Science. The 



eleventh annual meeting of the Indiana 

 Academy of Science was held in the State 

 House at Indianapolis December 27th and 

 28th. The meeting was one of the best 

 ever held. Over forty nefr members were 

 elected. The address by the retiring presi- 

 dent, Mr. A. W. Butler, on Indiana : A Cen- 

 tury of Changes in the Aspects of Nature, was 

 intensely interesting and very profitable. A 

 poem by Mr. W. W. Pfrimmer, the " Kanka- 

 kee poet," on The Naturalist, was a novel yet 

 a pleasing feature. Many of the papers were 

 worthy of special mention if space permitted. 

 The Recent Earthquakes East of the Rocky 

 Mountains, by A. H. Purdue, and Uncon- 

 scious Mental Cerebration, by C. E. Newlin, 

 were perhaps two of the most interesting. 

 The report of the Biological Survey on 

 Turkey Lake deservedly attracted much at- 

 tention. The spring meeting will probably 

 be held in joint session with the Ohio Acad- 

 emy near the State line. Officers for next 

 year are as follows: President, Stanley 

 Coulter, Purdue University ; Vice-President, 

 Thomas Gray-Rose, Polytechnic; Secretary, 

 John S. Wright, Indianapolis ; Assistant Sec- 

 retary, A. J. Bigney, Moore's Hill College ; 

 Treasurer, W. P. Shannon, Greensburg. 

 A. J. BIGNEY, 

 Assistant Secretary. 



Dirt-Eating. The habit of dirt-eating 

 among children is the subject of an inter- 

 esting paper by Dr. John Thomson. He 

 finds that it occurs in two classes of chil- 



