128 BIRDS' NESTS 



feet deep, one egg being placed in each hole and the 

 earth carefully smoothed over the entrance. Another 

 mound of this species is described as being made en- 

 tirely of rich vegetable mould, fifteen feet high and 

 sixty feet in circumference ; it contained a single egg 

 buried five feet below the surface. Lastly, the Lipoa 

 ocellata is somewhat different in its methods, appear- 

 ing to lay a clutch of eggs in the centre of the mound, 

 each stuck about three inches apart at the same depth 

 and in the form of a circle. The more aberrant Brush 

 Turkeys are, however, very similar in their domestic 

 arrangements. One of these, the Talegallus fusci- 

 rostris of ornithologists, constructs in the forest a 

 mound of earth, sticks and leaves in the form of a 

 truncated cone eleven feet high and twenty-five feet 

 in circumference, the eggs being laid in perpendicular 

 burrows about four feet in depth. Another species, 

 Catheturus lathami, builds a mound often six feet 

 high and from twelve to fourteen yards wide at the 

 base, at other times more conical. Of these mounds 

 Dr Ramsay writes : " The central position consists of 

 decayed leaves mixed with fine debris, the next of 

 coarser and less rotten materials ; and the outside is 

 a mass of recently-gathered leaves, sticks and twigs 

 not showing signs of decay. In opening the nest 

 these are easily removed, and must be carefully 

 pushed backwards over the sides, beginning at the 

 top. Having cleared these and obtained plenty of 

 room, remove the semi-decayed strata, and below it. 



