The Zoologist — February, 1866. 47 



iucubaling. The native informed us that the only chance of procuring 

 the bird was by stationing ourselves in sight of the mound, at a little 

 distance, and remaining quiet and immovable till it made its appearance 

 at sun-down ; this I attempted, and, with the native, encamped within 

 about twenty yards of the mound about an hour before sun-set, taking 

 the precaution to conceal ourselves well with bushes from the quick 

 eye of the bird, but leaving just a sufficient opening to get a fair sight 

 with my gun ; in a half-sitting, half-crouching position, I thus re- 

 mained in breathless anxiety for the approach of the bird I had so long 

 wished to see, not daring to move a muscle for fear of moving a branch 

 or making a noise by crnshing a dead leaf, till I was so cramped 

 I could scarcely bear the pain in my limbs ; the bird did not, however, 

 make its appearance, and the native, with the fear of wading through 

 the thicket in darkness (for there was no moon), became so impatient 

 that he started up and began to talk so loud, and make so much noise, 

 that 1 was compelled to give up all hopes of seeing the bird that night ; 

 however, just as we were passing the mound, we started the bird from 

 the opposite side, but, from the denseness of the thicket and the dark- 

 ness closing around us, I had no chance of getting a shot at it. Mr. 

 Roe, the Surveyor-General, who examined several mounds during his 

 expedition to the interior in the year 1836, found the eggs nearly ready 

 to hatch in the month of November, and invariably seven or eight in 

 number; while another authority has informed me of an instance of 

 fourteen being taken from one mound." — Vol. ii. p. 155. 



I will here insert an extract from a letter addressed to Mr. Gould 

 on the subject of the same bird. 



" The mounds they construct are from twelve to thirteen yards in 

 circumference at the base, and from two to three feet in height; the 

 general form being that of a dome. The sand and grass are some- 

 times scraped up for a distance of from fifteen to sixteen feet from its 

 outer edge. 



" The mound appears to be constructed as follows : — A nearly cir- 

 cular hole, of about eighteen inches in diameter, is scratched in the 

 ground to the 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 dried grass, &c., is 

 thrown, and finally the whole assumes the form of a dome, as I have 

 before staled. 



