266 cassell's book of birds. 



The BRUSH TURKEYS {Catheliinis) are recognisable by their powerful frame, moderate-sized 

 neck, large head, short rounded wings, and tail of medium length, composed of eighteen feathers ; 

 tb.eir soft woolly down, and a slight hairy growth on the head and neck. The fore part of the throat 

 exliibits a long fleshy excrescence. These remarkable birds are natives of Australia. 



THE BRUSH TURKEY, OR WATTLED TALLEGALLUS. 



The Brush Turkey, or Waitled Tallegallus {Catheturus, or TallcgaUus Lat/iami), is of a 

 beautiful chocolate-brown on the upper portions of the body, and- light brown on the under side, 

 which is marked with silver-grey. The eye is light brown, the wattle bright yellow, the beak lead- 

 grey, and the foot light reddish brown. The bare skin on the head and neck is scarlet. This species 

 is two feet and a half long ; the wing measures twelve inches, and the tail nine inches and a half. 

 The female closely resembles her mate. 



" How far the range of the Wattled Tallegallus may extend," says Mr. Gould, " is not yet 

 satisfactorily ascertained ; it is known to inhabit various parts of New South Wales, from Cape Howe 

 to Moreton Bay, and Mr. Macgillivray informed me that he had killed it as far up the east coast as 

 Port Molle. The assaults of the cedar-cutters and others, who frequently hunt through the brushes of 

 lUawarra and Maitland, had, however, nearly extirpated it from tliose localities when I visited the 

 colony in 1838, and it probably does not now exist there ; but I believe it is still plentiful in the dense 

 and little-trodden brushes of the Manning and Clarence. I was at first led to believe the country 

 between the mountain ranges and the coast constituted its sole habitat, but I was agreeably 

 surprised when I found it in the Liverpool brushes and in the scrubby gullies and sides of the lower 

 hills that branch off towards the interior. 



" It has often been asserted that Australia abounds in anomalies, and in no instance is the truth 

 of this assertion more fully exemplified than in the history of this very singular bird, respecting the 

 situation of which in the natural system much diversity of opinion, as above noticed, has hitherto 

 prevailed. It was consequently one of the birds which demanded my utmost attention during my 

 visit to Australia. 



" The most remarkable circumstance connected with the economy of this species is the fact of 

 its eggs not being incubated in the manner of other birds. At the commencement of the spring the 

 Wattled Tallegallus scratches together an immense heap of decaying matter as a depository for the 

 eggs, and trusts to the heat developed by the process of fermentation for the development of the 

 young. The heap employed for this purpose is collected by the birds during several weeks previous 

 to the period of laying ; it varies in size from two to many cartloads, and in most instances is of a 

 pyramidal form. The construction of the mound is either the work of one pair of birds, or, as some 

 suppose, of the united labours of several ; the same site appears to be resorted to for several years 

 in succession, the birds adding a fresh supply of materials each succeeding season. 



" The materials composing these mounds are accumulated by the bird grasping a quantity in its 

 foot, and throwing it backwards to a common centre, the surface of the ground for a considerable 

 distance being so completely scratched over that scarcely a leaf or blade of grass is left. The mound 

 being completed, and time being left for sufficient heat to be engendered, the eggs are deposited in a 

 circle at the distance of nine or twelve inches from each other, and buried more than an arm's depth, 

 with the large end upwards ; they are covered up as they are laid, and allowed to remain until they are 

 hatched. I have been credibly informed, both by natives and settlers living near their haunts, that it 

 is not unusual to obtain half a bushel of eggs at a time from a single mound, and I have myself seen 

 a native woman bring to the encampment in her net half that quantity, as the spoils of a foraging 

 excursion to the neighbouring scrub. Some of the natives state that the females are constantly in the 



