BRUSH TURKEY. 325 



been^ that a kang-aroo while feeding' actually hop- 

 ped up within fifteen yards, unconscious of our 

 presence until fired at. My bower-bird proved to 

 be a new species, since described by Mr. Gould as 

 Chlamydera cerviniventris, and the bower is ex- 

 bited in the British Museum. 



Among; the g-ame birds of Cape York, the emu 

 is entitled to the first rank. Only two or three, 

 however, were seen, and we were not fortunate 

 enough to procure one. One day an emu allowed 

 me to approach within fifty yards by stalking it 

 cautiousl}', holding up a large green bough before 

 me, when, becoming alarmed, it darted in its fright 

 into a thicket and was lost to view. Many brush 

 turkeys {Talegalla Latliami) were shot by our sports- 

 men, and scarcely a day passed on which the 

 natives did not procure for us some of their eggs. 

 The mode in which these and other eggs are cooked 

 by the blacks is to roll them up in two or three 

 large lea^'es, and roast them in the ashes ; the eggs 

 burst, of course, but the leaves prevent the contents 

 from escaping. Both bird and eggs are excellent 

 eating ; the latter, averaging three and a half inches 

 in length, of a pure white colour, are deposited in 

 low mounds of earth and leaves in the dense brushes 

 in a similar manner to those of the megapodius, and 

 are easil}' dug out with the hand. I have seen 

 three or four taken out of one mound where they 

 T\ere arranged in a large circle, a foot and a half 

 from the surface. The laying bird carefully effaces 



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