THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
“ As a rule the eggs are laid in October, but this year, 1884, for the first 
time, I obtained them in September. Usually it is very shy, but during the 
period of incubation it loses this shyness and both parent birds will allow 
themselves to be approached quite closely and seem utterly regardless of 
danger in their anxiety to protect their eggs or young. In fact I have seen 
the female bird so loth to quit the eggs that it was only when I touched 
her with my hand that she would quit the nest, pecking savagely at my 
hand several times before she did so; the male bird in the meantime laying 
flat on the ground with outstretched wings, a few feet off, uttering the most 
plaintive cries. 
“ The young in the earlier stages are exceedingly helpless, and although 
the colour of their down so closely resembles that of the loose pieces of 
earth amongst which they were hatched that when motionless they are 
undistinguishable, still their slightest movements would possibly attract 
the eye of some passing hawk or crow, and to guard against this danger the 
old birds conduct them as speedily as possible to one of the numerous holes 
in the ground to be found all over the plains (the mouth of some deserted 
burrow is a favourite place); into this hole the young are led and here they 
remain until they are able to fly. When the young are concealed in one of 
these holes one or both of the old birds may always be seen close by, and on 
the approach of danger I have frequently seen both take refuge in the hole, 
and, on watching for a short time, have seen one or both come cautiously 
out again only to disappear once more on noticing me. The bird is the 
only living creature I know of that seem to revel in the intense heat of 
mid-summer in this locality, for when every other living animal has sought 
shelter from the withering mid-day sun, it may be observed running briskly 
about on the bare red patches I have described when the surface of the 
ground is so hot that a man could scarcely bear his hand on it ; in fact the 
hotter the day the more this feathered salamander seems to enjoy it. It, 
however, requires a good deal of water, for it drinks several times during 
the day and often travels many miles going to and returning from the tanks 
containing water, and numbers can be obtained by waiting at the water until 
they come to drink. 
“ These birds run with great rapidity when in quest of food, etc., and 
suddenly pausing, the body undulates for some seconds as if poised on 
delicate springs when the running is again resumed. Its flight, which appears 
somewhat laboured from the extreme length of the wing, is nevertheless light 
and buoyant and is characterised by the same erratic zig-zag motions so 
noticeable in the Eurostopodidce. Its food consists of insects which are captured 
both on the ground and on the wing, the bird sometimes running along the 
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