380 TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES 



they could get hold of. Unfortunately, two of them dying, the 

 surviving male, dispirited and forlorn, neglected his assembly- 

 room, which was now rendered useless. The satin bower-bird, 

 like the magpie, is well known by the natives to be a terrible 

 thief, and they always search his abode for anything they may 

 have lost. 



The Talegalla or Brush- turkey is no less interesting. In ap- 

 pearance it is very like the common black turkey, but is not 



quite so large: the extraordinary 

 manner in which its eggs are hatched 

 constitutes its singularity. It col- 

 lects together a great heap of decay- 

 ing vegetables as the place of deposit 

 of its eggs, thus making a hot-bed, 

 arising from the decomposition of 

 Lathami Talegalla. ^^^ collected matter, by the heat of 



which the young are hatched. This mound varies in quantity 

 from two to four cartloads, and is of a perfectly pyramidical 

 form : it is not, however, the work of a single pair of birds, 

 but is the result of the united labour of many, and the same 

 site appears to be resorted to for several years in succession. 

 " The mode," says Mr. Grould, '' in which the materials com- 

 posing these mounds are accumulated is equally singular, 

 the bird never using its bill, but always grasping a quantity 

 in its foot, throwing it backwards to one common centre, 

 and thus clearing the surface of the ground to a consider- 

 able distance so completely that scarcely a leaf or blade of grass is 

 left." The heap being accumulated and time allowed for a 

 sufficient heat to be engendered, the eggs, each measuring not 

 less than four inches in length — an enormous size, considering 

 the bulk of the bird — are deposited, not side by side, as is ordi- 

 narily the case, but planted at the distance of nine or twelve 

 inches from each other, and buried at nearly an arm's depth 

 perfectly upright, with the large end upwards ; they are covered up 

 as they are laid, and allowed to remain until hatched. After six 

 weeks of burial, the eggs, in succession and without any warning, 

 give up their chicks — not feeble, but full-fledged and strong, so 

 that at night they scrape holes for themselves, and lying down 

 therein are covered over by the old birds and thus remain until 

 The extraordinary strength of the newly-hatched 



