PREPARING THE INCUBATOR 



overshadowing a thicket of bushy plants so dense and high 

 that whenever he and his black guide became separated by 

 only a few yards they were obliged to cooey in order to find 

 one another again. 



To make its mound, the mallee-bird scratches up the sur- 

 rounding gravel and mixes that which is destined to form 

 the inside of the hillock with vegetable matter. As it 

 decays, enough warmth is produced to incubate the eggs; 

 indeed, the temperature within one of these mounds is 

 stated to be as high as 89 F., or thereabout. Of the nests 

 examined by Gilbert, both those with eggs contained large 

 numbers of termites, which had made their little covered 

 galleries of earth around the shell, to which they were 

 attached, " thus showing," he says, " a beautiful provision of 

 Nature in preparing the necessary tender food for the young 

 bird on its emergence.' 1 



The largest mound examined by Gilbert measured forty- 

 five feet in circumference. He found the inside or vegetable 

 portion of those mounds which were not quite ready for use 

 cold and wet in marked contrast to those in which eggs 

 were contained ; it appears likely, therefore, that the birds 

 turn out all the material to dry before the eggs are laid. 

 As each egg is deposited the birds cover it up carefully with 

 the soil and make the top of the mound, which was before 

 scooped out into a hollow, perfectly round and smooth, so 

 that it might quite easily be mistaken for an ant-hill by any- 

 body not acquainted with the LipocCs habits. Some seven 

 or eight eggs are laid in a circle around the centre of the 

 nest, about three inches apart. They are very large eggs 

 nearly four inches long, the colour varies from light 

 salmon to a very light brown. 



From Grey we learn that the nest sometimes attains an 

 immense size, measuring thirteen yards around the base and 



129 



