342 HOMES WITHOUT i^ANDS. 



At last the eggs are Latched ; but whea the young bird escapes 

 from the shell, it does not emerge from the mound, remaining 

 therein for at least twelve hours. Even after it has enjoyed the 

 open air it retires to the mound toward evening, and is covered 

 up like the eggs, only not to so great a depth. It is a remarkable 

 fact that in all cases a nearly cylindrical hole is preserved in the 

 middle of the mound, being evidently intended as a chimney by 

 which the heat may be moderated, and through which gases pro- 

 duced by fermentation may escape. The reader will probably 

 call to mind that in a well-made haystack a central aperture is 

 preserved for exactly the same purpose, the modern farmer hav- 

 ing therefore been anticipated by a bird. 



A very great number of eggs are placed in the nest, a bushel 

 of eggs being sometimes taken out of a single mound.' These 

 eggs are peculiarly well flavored, and are equally sought by na- 

 tives and colonists. The Tallegalla has a habit of scratching 

 large holes in the ground while dusting itself after the manner of 

 gallinaceous birds, and these holes often serve to direct the expe- 

 rienced hunter toward the nest itself. 



Another species of mound-making bird is tolerably common 

 about Port Essington. This is the Australian Jungle Fowl 

 (Megapodius tumulus), which makes earth-mounds of prodigious 

 size, one of them which was measured being no less than fifteen 

 feet in perpendicular height, and twenty feet in diameter. If the 

 reader will measure off twenty feet along the floor of a room, and 

 fifteen feet upon the walls, he will form a conception of the enor- 

 mous size of these tumuli. These heaps are always placed under 

 shelter, and are sometimes so enveloped in foliage that, in spite 

 of their great size, they can scarcely be discovered. The materi- 

 als of which they are composed are rather variable, according to 

 the locality, but the general mass consists of leaves, grass, and oth- 

 er vegetable matter. 



Vast numbers of eggs are laid in these nests, and are placed at 

 a considerable depth, some of them being as much as six or seven 

 feet from the>top of the heap. They are deposited in a curious 

 manner, the bird scratching its way into the heap, laying an egg, 

 and then filling up the hole as she makes her way out again. 

 The natives always use their hands in digging out these eggs, be- 

 cause their fingers can follow the trj^ck of the bird, the softer and 

 looser material acting as a guide. A twig is generally used as a 



