BIRD NOTES. 4!) 



the Turkey the more I wondered at the young birds being able to get out of the nest in the manner 

 indicated in the school lesson (exactly the same as now stated by you). I have opened many 

 nest-- in search ol eggs and invariably found them at a depth of over a foot; and the mass forming 

 the nest bad always settled down rather compactly ; so how a weak chicken could get out without 

 assistance was a continual puzzle. Seeing that the eggs were packed round with the nest material, 

 and a fairly lame passage had to be made for its exit, where did the chicken, which, of course, fully 

 , put the material scratched away ? "Phis always beat me. Rut one morning, 

 during a ramble through the bush, 1 disturbed a Turkey which had been busily engaged scratching 

 on top oi .1 nest. I'n reaching the nest 1 found a hole excavated to a depth of about a foot, and 

 I" til \ in o that the egg-laying period was Over, 1 looked lor another reason lor the bird's work. An 

 examination of the hole disclosed a slight movement at the bottom, and. taking a stick. I removed 

 a few leaves, etc.. and discovered a baby Turkey, which 1 took home lor a pet. Having made, as 

 1 fancied, an interesting discovery, 1 visited the same nest on several other days, and on each day 

 save one. when f arrived too late, the same thing occurred -the old Turkey was busily engaged in 

 digging out a young one. A curious thing about it was that, on my second visit, the old bird was 

 at work on the opposite side ol the nest to where she was on the first day ; on the third day she 

 dug lor a young one several feet away from the others; then she got one out from just near the 

 first. Each day's chicken came from a different part ol tin- nest. 



" That week's experience put an end to m\ previous doubtful beliel in the old story of the young 

 getting out without assistance. 1 may add that subsequent observations oi other nests proved that 

 the old bird always assists tier young ones to escape from the nest, and that sin.- knows exactly m 

 which portion of the nest to-day's chicken i- waiting to be helped out. 



" As regards the activity of the young birds, I have frequently read that they are able to fly 

 almost immediately alter emergence. I hardly believe this, because it is usual to find three or four 

 young ones in the vicinitv Oi the nest, and they do not attempt to tlv. but rely lor safety on running 

 and dodging and on their protective colouring. Young ones are rather difficult to capture by 

 chasing them amongst the bushes and vines." 



Note. — A further account of the breeding of the Brush Turkey in captivity appears in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society. Mr. A. D. Bartlett there states: 'These birds formed a 

 large mound of leaves, grass, earth, and other materials, in the Zoological Gardens, London, in [86o, 

 during the spring and summer. On the morning of the 26th \ugust a voung Tallegalla crept out 

 of the mound, and quite regardless o' its parents ran about searching for worms and other insei 1 

 upon which it fed with as much adroitness and apparent knowle ge as the chick of a common fowl 

 would exhibit at a month old. "5 



Mr. Basset Hull informs me that the Solomon island Megapode {Megapodius brenchleyi) does 

 not build a mound, but scratches a hole in the loose volcanic soil, depositing its eggs at a depth of 

 from iS inches to 2 feet or more. The young bird easily makes its way to the surface without assist- 

 ance. He obtained some eggs from the natives of New Britain when on a visit to that island in 

 August, 1S9S. Some of these eggs were wrapped in cotton wool and placed on a spare bunk in his 

 cabin. One of them hatched, and the young bird escaped into the saloon, where it was captured 

 after an exciting chase in which the ship's cat came in second. The bird was then able to fly some 

 distance, although it could not have been hatched many hours. It was placed in a cage and fed 

 on land snails, growing to the size of a Quail in about ten days. On approaching the coast of New 

 South Wales a cold change took place and the bird died. — Editor. 



5. Bartlett — Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., xx-viii., p. 426. 



