3yb UALLLS^. ijIRbS. i’HASIANXDA, 
feathers, and of a blackish-brown colour, and the back 
of the neck dark graj'. The whole of the feathers of 
the back and wings are marked towards the tips with 
bands of brown, black, and graj'ish-white, the paler 
colour occupying the margin of the feathers, and thus 
giving the plumage an ocellated appearance ; the tail- 
feathers are blackish-brown, broadly tipped with butf ; 
the lower surface is pale buff, with some black bands 
on the flanks ; the front of the neck bears numerous 
elongated black feathers, with a white line down the 
centre of each. 
This handsome bird is an inliabitant of Western 
Australia, where it dwells princii)ally on the barren 
sandy plains of the interior. Its food consists chiefly 
of seeds and berries. The eggs are deposited in a 
moiind, usually about throe feet in height, composed 
of laj'ers of dead leaves and other vegetable matters, 
and covered with a coating of sand. The natives, 
who are very fond of the eggs, wait until the mound 
is completed and covered up, when they easily secure 
the whole stock, and the hen birds will then lay a 
second, and even a third time. When broken up, the 
mounds are always found to be tenanted by vast num- 
bers of ants. 
THE BRUSH TURKEY {Tallegalla Lath ami)— ?]&iQ 
20, fig. 74 — one of the most remarkable species of this 
family, is a native of the brushes of New South Wales. 
Its characters are so singular, that by Latham, and 
even by Swainson, it was regarded as a vulture. It 
has a robust and strongly-arched bill, of a black 
colour; the head and neck are covered with a deep 
red skin, over which a few black hairs are thinly 
scattered, and at the base of the neck there is a large 
somewhat lobulated wattle of a bright yellow colour, 
which, at the first glance, has something of the general 
effect of the downy frill which frequently adorns the 
same part in the vultures. The plumage of the uj)per 
surface, including the ample tail, is blackish-brown, or 
nearly black ; that of the lower surface is also blackish- 
brown, but each feather has a silvery-gray tip, and the 
feet are brown. 
In its habits it is terrestrial, generally wandering 
about in small flocks, and when disturbed eluding pur- 
suit by the facility with which it runs through the 
brush. When hard pressed, or suddenly alarmed, the 
flock will fly up to the lowest bough of a tree, the top 
of which they attain by a succession of leaps, and then 
fly off to another ]iart of the brush. The mound pre- 
pared by this bird for the incubation of its eggs, consists 
of a vast heap of decaying vegetable matters, collected 
by several individuals acting in concert. The heap is 
formed by the birds grasping successive portions of the 
materials in their powerfid feet, and then throwing 
these behind them towards the centre of the space 
occupied by them ; and in this way they clear the 
surface of the ground of all herbage for a consider- 
able distance around the mound. The eggs are large, 
and, as in the case of the Megapodius, are deposited 
in an upright position. The natives assured Mr. 
Gould that the old birds frequented the vicinity of 
the nest at the time when the young might be e.xpected 
to appear, and frequently uncovered the eggs and 
covered them up again. This has been confirmed by 
the breeding of a pair in the London Zoological Gar- 
dens, the male (not the female as stated by the Austra- 
lians to Mr. Gould) being assiduous in his attention to 
the eggs, and assisting the young birds to make their 
escape from the mound. 
CUVIER’S TAIEGALLA {Talegalla Guvieri), the 
only other known species of this genus, is an inhabitant 
of the forests of New Guinea. It is a much smaller 
bird than the preceding, its size being only that of a 
small fowl, and is entirely of a black colour. 
THE MAIEO {Megacephalon Maleo), another sin- 
gular species of this family, and the last to which we 
shall refer, is a native* of the island of Celebes. It has 
the head naked, and furnished with a casque resembling 
that of the cassoway in form, and the neck clothed 
with a light down, amongst which are some short 
scattered hairs. Like the preceding species, this bird 
deposits its eggs in a heap of sand and vegetable 
matters, and leaves them to be hatched by the heat 
produced in the mass. 
Family III.— PIIASIANIDiE. 
The birds of this family, some of which are amongst 
the most elegant and splendid of their class, are nearly 
all inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere, only two 
species being found in America ; and even in the Old 
World their distribution is almost exclusively restricted 
to the warmer parts of the Asiatic continent and its 
dependent islands. They have a bill of moderate size 
and strength, of which the upper mandible is pretty 
strongly arched at the tip, where it overhangs the 
lower one ; their wings are usually short and rounded, 
indicating bqt moderate powers of flight ; but their 
tarsi are tolerably elongated and strong, and their toes 
rather short and stout, and terminated by pretty strong 
scratching claws. The hinder toe is always shorter 
lhan the anterior ones, and slightly elevated above 
their plane on the back of the tarsus, which is also 
frequently armed with one or more spurs. The form 
of the tail varies greatly. It is usually ample, some- 
times broad and rounded at the apex, sometimes 
elongated and wedge-shaped, or pointed. A portion 
of the head is almost always bare of feathers, usually 
round the ejms ; but in many cases a larger space is 
covered with naked skin, and this is not unfrequently 
dilated into combs and wattles of various and often 
curious forms. 
The numerous species belonging to this family may 
be divided into four subordinate groups — those of the 
Pheasants, Codes, Peacodcs, and Turkeys, of each of 
wliich we shall now proceed to describe a few illustra- 
tions : — 
niEA SANTS. 
THE COMMON PHEASANT {Phasiamis coldiicus) 
This well-known bird, which is abundant in most parts 
of Britain, is not a native of this country, but has been 
introduced here, and into the southern parts of Europe 
generally, from the south-west of the Asiatic continent. 
'I he particular district from which the progenitors of 
the Pheasants now inhabiting Europe were derived, is 
supposed to have been the banks of the river Phasis, 
