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©ffinal ODrgatt at the ^nstxnlmmn dDniithoIogista' Enion. 



"Bir«as of a fczitbcr." 



Vol. VIII.] ist OCTOBER, 1908. [Part 2. 



Thermometer-Bird or Mallee-Fowl (Lipoa ocellata). 

 By a. H. E. Mattingley, C.M.Z.S. 

 P/aRT I. 

 Habitat and Geographical Distribution. — In those 

 regions of Australia far from the haunts of white men, where 

 there is very little surface water, and the soil is conse- 

 quently clothed with stunted drought-resisting eucalypts such as 

 Eucalyptus incrassata, E. gracilis, E. oleosa, E. jincinata, E. 

 bcJiriana, acacias such as A. bracJiybotrya, as well as other 

 varieties, Banksia ornata, pines, and other dwarf vegetation, con- 

 sisting of hakeas and grevilleas, dwells an ornithological enigma 

 commonly known by its several vernacular names of Native 

 Plieasant, Brush-Turkey, Lowan or Mallee-Hen, and by its well- 

 chosen technical name of Lipoa ocellata, which literally means 

 spotted-egg leaver. The Lipoa, which has an extensive range in 

 southern Australia, was called by the aborigines of some of the 

 western districts of the State of Victoria Low-an-ee, Louan, or 

 Lowan, and it was from the latter of these that it has derived 

 one of its vernacular names.* In the Wimmera River district, 

 in western Victoria, a large tract of country, classified locally 

 as a shire, has been named Lowan after the Lipoa, which 

 bird is found within its confines. The bird's other vernacular 

 name, and the one it is best known by, is Mallee-Hen. 

 Mallee is an aboriginal name for thicket, and this native 

 name is universally applied by settlers to areas of country clad 

 with stunted eucalypts in certain districts of the States of New 

 South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. 

 In these parts the Mallee extends for miles in one unbroken sea, 

 as it were, and rippled like the waves of the ocean where the 

 Mallee-clothed sand dunes rise in regular lines of uniform height 

 from the surrounding level. Although the Mallee is the 

 principal habitat of the Lipoa, yet these birds are sometimes 

 found frequenting a mixed class of country. They prefer, how- 

 ever, the more arid southerly regions of Australia, partly on 

 account of the type of vegetation which these dry areas support. 



* Eor further historic records see " Nests and Eggs," by A, J. Campbell. 



