The Zoologist — February, 1866. 51 



the ground to the depth of twenty or twenty-four inches, and the 

 cavity filled with leaves olthe Eucalypti, on the top of and suriounding 

 which the mound of sand and mixed herbage is raised. Mr. Schom- 

 burgk also states that an egg he took home and placed under a 

 domestic hen was hatched the next day, and the young bird appeared 

 covered with feathers and capable of at once obtaining its own 

 food."— Vol. ii. pp. 160 — 166. 



I cannot assume that the economy of these remarkable birds will 

 prove novel to all my readers, but 1 am quite sure they will be read 

 with interest even by those who were previously acquainted with the 

 facts detailed; and extraordinary as the account of Talegallus and 

 Leipoa may be considered, that of Megapodius Tumulus will assuredly 

 be read with still greater interest: it is extracted from Mr. Gilbert's 

 notes. The incredulity of the settlers, who could not assign any other 

 origin to these tumuli than that they were burial-places of the natives, 

 and the knowledge possessed by the natives that they were the handi- 

 work of birds, are facts which give the narrative additional interest. 

 How frequently do we draw our conclusions from very insufficient 

 premises, and construct hypotheses tlial will harmonize with our own 

 preconceived idea ! There is a dawn of intelligence exhibited by the 

 natives in their positive assertion that these tumuli were the work of 

 birds that is also worthy of notice; not that 1 would argue from this 

 the capacity for farther education, for I believe the " thus far and no 

 farther," although its application by man is futile, nevertheless exists 

 in nature, and 1 never expect to see the boundary line passed over, yet 

 every step which man or animals can achieve must be a matter of in- 

 terest, and, however low our estimate of an Australian's intelligence, let 

 us at least give him credit for all that he possesses ; and these volumes 

 of Mr. Gould's tend greatly to exhibit the native mind in its true 

 colours. But 1 must devote so much space to the Megapode itself 

 that I will not trouble the reader with my own reflections. 



Aiislralian Megapode (Megapodius Tumulus). — "The following 

 account of its habits is taken from Gilbert's notes, and novel and 

 extraoidinary as those of Talegallus and Leipoa may have been con- 

 sidered, this will be read with even greater interest: — 



'"On my arrival at Port Essiugton my attention was attracted to 

 numerous mounds of earth, which were pointed out to me by some of 

 the residents as the tumuli of the aborigines ; on the other hand, 1 was 

 assured by the natives that they were formed by the Megapode for the 



