BURYING THE EGGS 



two or three feet in height, and that to accumulate this 

 great heap of material the bird scrapes up sand and grass 

 from more than five yards around. As to the actual way 

 in which she goes to work, we cannot do better than 

 quote Grey's own words from a letter he wrote to Mr. Gould 

 in the year 184$. He says: "The mound appears to 

 be constructed as follows : A nearly circular hole, about 

 eighteen inches in diameter, is scratched in the ground to a 

 depth of seven or eight inches, and filled with dead leaves, 

 dead grass, and similar materials, and a large mass of the 

 same substances is placed all round it upon the ground. 

 Over this first layer a large mound of sand, mixed with dry 

 grass, etc., is thrown, and finally the whole assumes the form 

 of a dome. . . . When an egg is to be deposited, the top is 

 laid open and a hole scraped in its centre to within two 

 or three inches of the bottom layer of dead leaves. The egg 

 is placed in the sand just at the edge of the hole, in a 

 vertical position, with the smaller end downwards. The 

 sand is then thrown in again, and the mound left in its 

 original form. The egg which has been thus deposited is 

 therefore completely surrounded and enveloped in soft sand, 

 having from four to six inches of sand between the lower 

 end of the egg and the layer of dead leaves. When a 

 second egg is laid, it is deposited in precisely the same plane 

 as the first, but at the opposite side of the hole before 

 alluded to. A third egg is placed in the same plane as the 

 others, but, as it were, at the third corner of the square . . . 

 the fourth ... in the fourth corner . . . the figure being of 

 this form o o ; the next four eggs in succession are placed 

 in the interstices, but always in the same plane, so that at 

 last there is a circle of eight eggs, all standing upright in 

 the sand, with several inches of sand intervening between 

 each. The male bird assists the female in opening and 



130 



