THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
the chicks. If the old birds are shut out from the mound the chicks become 
smothered in the shell, as the mound becomes hard and impervious to the oxygen 
of the air. Once the chicks are hatched out in this way the old birds pay 
no further attention to them. 
“ The Lipoa is a shy and cautious bird and is not readily found by those 
unacquainted with its habits. When it sees or hears anyone approaching, it 
stands quite stiU and with body in an erect position and with outstretched 
neck it simulates its surroundings with which its mottled pale coloured plumage 
harmonises. The bird recognises the protective value of the colour of its 
plumage, and therefore remains perfectly quiet to escape detection. It is 
believed that they mate for life, since a pair of birds are always in company, 
but when feeding, never actually together, however, but rarely more than 50 
or 80 yards apart. They enjoy a mid-day siesta together, and if startled give 
a fright note hke ‘ Koonk ’ as they take wing, but they prefer to trust to 
their legs to escape. They are very fleet and are not so readily perceived, as 
they rush through the scrub as when on the wing. They love solitude, each 
pair having its own feeding ground, but when food is scarce and when not 
burdened with nesting cares they wander some distance away in search of 
wattle (acacia) seeds. They retire to other tracts of country if hunted or 
disturbed by settlers. The cock and hen birds differ very little in their mark- 
ings. In the dry rarified atmosphere of the ‘ MaUee,’ which on a calm moonlight 
night has a deathly stillness, the loud call which the cock bird occasionally 
emits can be heard two miles away. The note which is shrill and harsh, when 
heard in these solitudes, is weird in the extreme and calculated to cause a cold 
shiver to run down one’s spine. The cock is especially wary, and if they 
detect anyone watching them they wiU not go near to their nesting mound. 
They have wonderfully fine eyesight and quickly observe any strange object. 
In the extreme heat of the summer they feed chiefly early in the morning and 
again late in the afternoon, but in cool cloudy weather they wander in search 
of their food aU day. They love to bask in the morning sun, hke domestic fowls, 
and scoop out a hole in the loose earth in which they he sunning first one side 
and then the other, and occasionally dusting themselves. On excessively hot 
days the birds seek a cool place under the grateful shade of some bush where 
the ground is cooler, and there they scratch a hole and he in it until the worst of 
the heat is over. They can go without water for a considerable time, but when 
it is conveniently near they drink frequently and freely. The most noticeable 
difference in the plumage of the sexes is the whiter marking on the throat of 
the cock, where it is more brown in the hen. General dorsal appearance leaden- 
grey washed with rufous brown and barred with white.” 
The bird figured and described is a male from South Austraha collected 
in December, 1875. 
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