128 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



took matters more easily by endeavouring to shoot smaller species 

 of some lovely Honey-eaters (Ptilotis cratitia,) which abounded in 

 the scrub. 



Running down a small water track we struck a Leipoa's 

 mound. It was situated between clumps of Mallee among some 

 Melaleuca bushes, (^Melaleuca unornata.) The nature of the soil 

 was sandy, and it was swept cleanly up for yards round, even to the 

 uncovering of the roots of the scrub some 2 or 3 inches. Some 

 conception may be formed of the size of the mound, when by actual 

 tape measurement it gave 10 feet across by about 2 feet high, or 

 about 30 feet in circumference, or being approximately equivalent 

 to a displacement of 150 cubic feet. The mound was slightly 

 concave, with a few twigs and sticks thrown over it, evidently by 

 the bird to avoid its detection. 



We commenced, on all fours, to scrape like so many dogs. The 

 sand was of a dark grey color, intermixed with minute fragments of 

 dead Mallee and other foliage. This mixtm-e was exceedingly 

 loose, and we experienced no little difficulty in preventing it running 

 back again towards the centre. The mound only contained one 

 egg. The temperature of the sand about the egg by Fahrenheit's 

 thermometor indicated 93°, being 20° hotter than the surrounding 

 atmosphere. The mound had been apparently robbed two or three 

 days before. Our selector friend had three weeks previously 

 abstracted four eggs from it, making the third successive season he 

 had collected eggs from the same mound. 



After " beating about the bush" a second nest was discovered. 

 Upon digging to its centre there was revealed *' nothing but leaves." 



In a third mound we were more successful. It contained five 

 eggs, fresh and beautiful. Its situation was similar to the first, 

 being in a slight indentation or gully on the side of a rise. Its 

 shape and dimensions were also much on an equality. In removing 

 the sand great caution had to be exercised for fear of fracturing the 

 shells, which are extremely fragile. It became intensely interesting 

 after grubbing away for a while to see the beautiful pink apices of 

 the eggs peep out one by one above the trickling dry sand. The 

 safest method to remove them is to displace the sand immediately 

 round them, when they gently overbalance on their sides. After 

 digging about a foot, we came upon one egg, evidently the 

 commencement of the second tier, for directly underneath was the 

 first tier of four eggs. Then four inches of dry sand intervened, 

 succeeded by about eight inches of damp, humid leaves. A most 

 unfortunate accident happened to my thermometor, which was 

 smashed to atoms by coming into contact with some scrub. This 

 was much to be regretted, because I had no means of recording the 

 temperature of the egg chamber, as a check against that in the 

 egg mound. 



