BELLCH AMBERS— Notes on the Mallee Fowl. 137 



the wings of the first bird I captured, and later by cautiously 

 approaching the mound I was able to see the birds working 

 with their powerful claws, throwing material to a considerable 

 distance. 



In the season 1911-12 I succeeded in getting these birds to 

 breed in captivity. Since then I have been enabled to keep 

 them under close observation. The material is gathered and 

 placed in position by means of the feet alone. The beak is 

 often used, when opening the egg chamber, to remove sticks 

 that obstruct their work. I was for a long time puzzled as to 

 how they managed to place and keep all the eggs on the small 

 end, but the explanation is very simple. An excavation is 

 made that acts as an egg cup, into which the egg is dropped. 

 (Fig. 5.) The female then leaves the mound, the male taking 

 her place, the, egg leaning too far forward he puts it in an 

 upright position. ' To do this he does not touch the egg, which 

 is very fragile, and easily broken, but, pushing beak and fore- 

 head into the loose sand about 1§ inches from the egg, he 

 pushes the" sand, against it until it is forced into the required 

 upright position. (Fig. 7.) 



The chick takes about two years to reach maturity. They 

 make preparation in the third season for nesting during the 

 c ourth. such as cleaning out an old mound, or digging a pit 

 for a new one this work being done mostly after rain. The 

 egs are few the first season, increasing the following season 

 to a considerable number. There is often a difference of four 

 or five months between the first and last chick of a season, 

 which makes them very irregular in their first nesting. Con- 

 struction of the mound often starts six months before the 

 laying season. The hot bed is ready for egs about September. 

 though my birds have laid as early as the 25th of October, 

 when laying begins, and continues up to the middle of Feb- 

 ruary. 



In excavating the pit the female throws the stuff back- 

 wards from the bottom to the male above, who. in his turn, 

 throws it over the rim of the excavation. The hardest work 

 appears to be done by the female, though both appear to take 

 great interest in the work. When the female lays both sexes 

 work at opening the mound, but as soon as the egg is laid the 

 male takes charge, and. after placing the egg in position, 

 refills the mound, the female disappearing practically at once. 

 The female does most of the hard work when constructing the 

 mound, but after laying starts all the hard work falls on the 



