MALLEE FOWL. 
“ In a sense the young are born fully fledged, although the plumage varies 
materially from that of the adults. It takes usually from forty- two to forty-five 
days for the chick to hatch out. Experiments were made by Mr. M’Lennan to 
ascertain the condition of the chick at birth, and upon breaking an egg after 
forty-one days of incubation in the mound, he found a somewhat helpless- 
looking little creature. This small mite after a short space of time became 
clothed, as it were, as the gelatinous-like material that cause the feather- 
sheaths to adhere to the skin of the chick, became dry and allowed the sheathed 
feathers to separate. In this condition the chick possessed a filo-plumaceous 
or hairy appearance. By throwing some dry sand upon the fledgling, and 
placing it in the sunshine, the sheaths soon burst, leaving the feathers to 
expand, and in less than one hour it was fully fledged, and could fly from ten 
to fifteen yards as well as run at a fair speed. It soon learned to hide, which it did 
by lying flat down upon the ground with its neck outstretched. Its mottled 
rufous brown and bufi plumage harmonising with its surroundings rendered 
the young Leipoa inconspicuous. Born with its head up and with its toes 
in front of its beak, the young chick works its way out of the mound by 
scratching, and as it reclines partially on its back, the sand, which is naturally 
loose, works down under it, and at the same time raises the bird and brings 
it nearer the surface of the mound. No sound is made by the chick such as 
cheeping when in its earthen womb. The head of the chick always appears 
first through the mound, and when it finally frees itself, the first thing it does 
is to give a good shake, then a wide gasp. Looking around, as if to comprehend 
the reason of its sudden transition and being stimulated by the awesome appear- 
ance of its surroundings, it suddenly rushes ofi and disappears in the scrub. 
If caught and buried again it cannot work its way out once more, because it is 
soon smothered. Although the young when leaving the mound are fully 
fledged and capable of taking short fluttering flights within half an hour of 
the emersion, if stimulated by fear, yet they prefer to run out of harm’s way 
by trusting to their legs that have so ably assisted them in working their way 
out of the mound. Having once left the mound they never return to it again. 
The chick soon learns to nourish itself after leaving the mound, and remains in 
its vicinity, where it is afterwards joined by the other chicks of thb same 
mound when they have effected an escape from it. The old birds have never 
been observed to assist the young ones in search for food and have never 
been found accompanying them, hence the young lead an independent 
existence from their birth. Until they are about half grown the young ones 
camp at night in the centre of a thick brush, a place where they also shelter 
in during the daytime. When about half-grown they begin to perch in the 
trees at night and are then free from ground enemies which up to this time 
take a heavy toll of the immature birds. It is exceedingly difficult to capture 
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