THE BRUSH TURKEY. 
461 
informed, both by natives and settlers living near their haunts, that it is not an unusual 
event to obtain nearly a bushel of eggs at one time from a single heap ; and as they are deli- 
cious eating, they are eagerly sought after. 
“ Some of the natives state that the females are constantly in the neighborhood of the 
heap about the time the young are likely to be hatched, and frequently uncover and cover 
them up again, apparently for the purpose of assisting those that may have appeared ; while 
others have informed me that the eggs are merely deposited and the young allowed to force 
their way unassisted. In all probability, as Nature has adopted this mode of reproduction, she 
has also furnished the tender birds with the power of sustaining themselves from the earliest 
period ; and the great size of the egg would equally lead to this conclusion, since in so large a 
space it is reasonable to suppose that the bird would be much more developed than is usually 
found in eggs of smaller dimensions. In further confirmation of this point, I may add that in 
searching for eggs in one of the mounds, I discovered the remains of a young bird, apparently 
just excluded from the shell, and which was clothed with feathers, not with down, as is 
usually the case.” 
Mr. P. L. Sclater has given the following most valuable account of the habits of this bird 
in a state of captivity : — 
“ The singular phenomenon of the mound-raising faculty of the Tallegalla, which had been 
well ascertained in Australia by Mr. Grould, has been annually displayed in the bird’ s state of 
captivity. 
“On being removed into an inclosure, with an abundance of vegetable material within 
reach, the male begins to throw it up into a heap behind him, by a scratching kind of motion 
of his powerful feet, which project each footful as he grasps it for a considerable distance in 
the rear. As he always begins to work at the outer margin of the inclosure, the material 
is thrown inwards in concentric circles, until sufficiently near the spot selected for the mound 
to be jerked upon it. As soon as the mound is risen to a height of about four feet, both birds 
work in reducing it to an even surface, and then begin to excavate a depression in the centre. 
In this, in due time, the eggs are deposited as they are laid, and arranged in a circle, about 
fifteen inches below the summit of the mound, at regular intervals, with the smaller end of the 
egg pointing downwards. The male bird watches the temperature of the mound very carefully ; 
the eggs are generally covered, a cylindrical opening being always maintained in the centre of 
the circle for the purpose of giving air to them, and probably to prevent the danger of a sudden 
increase of heat from the action of the sun or accelerated fermentation in the mound itself. In 
hot days the eggs are nearly uncovered two or three times between morning and evening. 
“ On the young bird chipping out of the egg, it remains in the mound for at least twelve 
hours without making any effort to emerge from it, being at that time almost as deeply covered 
up by the male as the rest of the eggs. 
“ On the second day it conies out, with each of its wing-feathers well developed in a 
sheath which soon bursts, but apparently without inclination to use them, its powerful feet 
giving it ample means of locomotion at once. Early in the afternoon, the young bird retires 
to the mound again, and is partially covered up for the night by the assiduous father, but at 
a diminished depth as compared with the circle of eggs from which it emerged in the morning. 
On the third day, the nestling is capable of strong flight, and on one occasion one of them, 
being accidentally alarmed, actually forced itself, while on the wing, through the strong 
netting which covered the inclosure. The accounts of the habits of the Tallegalla, given by 
Mr. Gould in his Birds of Australia, in 1842, strange as it appeared at the time, are thus 
perfectly verified in every respect.” 
The general color of the adult male Tallegalla is blackish -brown above, and the same on the 
under surface with a silver gray gloss produced by the gray tips of the back feathers. The 
cheeks are naked, the head and neck covered with short hair-like feathers of a dark blackish 
hue, and the front of the neck is furnished with a large naked fleshy wattle, something like 
that of a turkey, and being of a bright yellow warming into orange-red at its junction with the 
neck. The bill is black ; the eyes brown chestnut, and the legs and feet dark brown. The 
male bird is about the size of an ordinary turkey, and the female is about one-fourth less. 
