6 Bird -Lore 



upward) of the eggs within the mound, the chicks are hatched in an 

 upright attitude, with their legs drawn up in front and toes near their beak; 

 therefore it would be eas}' for the young, when delivered in due time from 

 the shell, to wriggle through the loose sand and so free themselves from 

 their great earthen incubator. In accordance with the natural law — the 

 greater the size of the egg in comparison with the size of the parent, the 

 more precocious the young — the young Mallee Fowl can fly at its birth, 

 and thereafter probably leads an independent existence of its own. 



It may be added that the call of the Mallee Fowl is a mournful, pro- 

 longed, coo-like note, which may be heard nearly a mile away. Being 

 terrestrial in habit, its food consists chiefly of insects, seeds and berries, 

 and tender shoots of plants. It can subsist without water, but sometimes 

 drinks when it rains. 



The Brush Turkey or Wattled Talegallus {Catheturus lathami) is 

 another extraordinary mound-raising bird, and is a denizen of the dense 

 coastal scrubs of eastern Australia. This bird is slightly larger than the 

 Mallee Fowl, and is blackish brown in color, as are also the bill, eyes 

 and feet. The skin of the head is pinkish and thinly dotted with 

 short, hair-like feathers, while the neck is ornamented with yellow and 

 red wattle. 



During the season of 1891, within the shades of the luxuriant sub- 

 tropical scrub of the Richmond river district, I was fortunate in finding 

 an egg-mound (see illustration) which contained eight eggs embedded at 

 a temperature of ninety-four degrees, or four degrees higher than the pre- 

 vailing atmosphere at the time. The mound, rotund in form, was twelve 

 feet in diameter at the base by two and one-half feet in height, and was^ 

 composed chiefly of black earthy mould mixed with decaying vegetable 

 matter. It is stated that the male birds generally perform the work of 

 mound-building, the debris being scraped up or gathered in the claws 

 and thrown backwards. One to three mated pairs frequent one mound. 

 The females lay about twelve eggs each, which are placed, small ends 

 downward, a few inches apart, in circular tiers at the depth of about an 

 arm's length. The eggs are more or less elliptical in shape, slightly 

 rough, without glossiness, and are pure white if not stained with the dirt 

 of the mound. They are about the same size as those of the Mallee 

 Fowl. 



Concerning Brush Turkeys in captivity, the Messrs. Le Souef Brothers, 

 of the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, inform me that the young grow 

 quickly, and at the age of nine months are hardly distinguishable from 

 their parents. The birds keep well in confinement, but, being of a pug- 

 nacious nature, the males have to be separated when the breeding season 

 arrives. A female was once watched depositing her egg. She first 

 scratched a hole ten inches deep near the top of the mound and entered 



