THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 151 



fill in the centre with dry eucalyptus leaves and trample them 

 until quite a firm bed is made. It should be mentioned that the 

 centre of the mound is scooped out to several inches below the 

 ground level, and the hollow thus formed may serve as a catch- 

 ment for water, a small supply of which would be necessary for 

 the satisfactory decay of the leaves. The bed, in the last mound 

 we investigated, was 45 inches in diameter and perhaps 15 

 inches in thickness. In the top of this was the egg cavity, 20 

 inches in diameter and about 8 inches deep. This cavity is 

 hollowed out of the bed of leaves, and in it the first layer of 

 eggs is always deposited. So one can be quite sure they have 

 obtained all the eggs from a mound when they come upon this 

 hard, firm bottom and the compact sides. The first (bottom) tier 

 always contains four eggs, which are placed against, or sometimes 

 partially in, a little pocket in the bank of leaves. It must 

 be highly interesting to watch, if it were possible, a Mallee 

 Fowl's movements while placing an egg in position. It would 

 have been interesting, too, if we had been able to prove the 

 fact, averred by some collectors, that the second egg deposited 

 in a tier is placed opposite and not next to the first, the third 

 and fourth eggs beiug afterwards put in position on either hand. 

 But in our excitement I am afraid we forgot this point. It would 

 have been but little extra trouble, for, as I have mentioned, the 

 priority of the eggs could be determined by their appearance. 

 Every egg in a mound is in a vertical position, standing on its 

 smaller end. The second tier also contains four eggs, but each 

 egg is placed, not directly over its fellow below, but midway in 

 the interstices. This allows of a closer arrangement while yet 

 giving each egg sufficient room. In our last mound it was 

 noticed that the bottom of each egg in this layer was somewhat 

 lower than the level of the tops of the first tier. This second 

 tier, however, was unfinished, for it only contained three eggs. 



In mounds that have their complement there are four tiers, 

 three of which contain four eggs each. The topmost or fourth 

 layer is invariably one egg, placed in the centre. Thus, if on 

 scraping down a mound, we had come first upon one egg we 

 should have known that the nest was full, and expected to find the 

 eggs of the bottom tier well advanced in incubation. But the 

 time of our visit was too early for that, for, being October, the 

 birds in most cases had only recently commenced laying. A 

 full mound, containing as it would these 13 eggs, is also of 

 a greater height than either of those we examined. 



There is no doubt the Lipoas pay great attention to their nest. 

 It has been said that they assist the young to emerge, but I 

 hardly think that possible, although they do so indirectly by 

 keeping the sandy covering so loose, and paying constant 

 attention to the regulation of heat. This latter function the 



