25 
All the valuable species of partridges, quails, &c., from various 
parts of the world may also be introduced, and that delicious 
bird the ortolan (ernberiza chlorocephala), or green-headed bunt¬ 
ing. These latter birds are so little quarrelsome that they may 
be admitted harmlessly into a general aviary, or even into a large 
cage occupied by a variety of small birds. “ Sleek good-nature” 
is described as their principal characteristic ; they look fat, and 
are fat. Their obesity of body seems a necessary consequence of 
their equanimity of temper. 
The larger and typical gallinaceous birds are entirely wanting 
in Australia, being represented by birds whose mode of incubation 
indicates an inferiority of type, as the megapodius (meg apod ins 
tumulus), leipoa or inallee bird of the Murray (leipoa occellataj, 
and the talegalla or brush turkey (talegaUa Lathami), all con¬ 
sidered good eating, and by many considered, when young and 
in the perfection of the season, preferable to our European game. 
It is to the last bird, the brush turkey, I shall now direct 
your attention; it forms part of a groat family of birds 
inhabiting Australia, New Guinea, the Celebes, and the 
Phillippine Islands, and whose habits and economy differ 
from every other group of birds which now exist in the world. 
In their structure they are nearly allied to the gallinaceous 
birds, while in some of their actions and mode of flight they 
resemble the rails; they do not incubate their eggs, and are, 
consequently, regarded by ornithologists as the lowest represen¬ 
tatives of their class. The brush turkey is now becoming accli¬ 
matised in England; the young are produced in the Zoological 
Gardens of London, and 1 hope that we shall soon see it forming 
its mound, and the young birds emerging from it, in or near 
Sydney; for, as I have before remarked, they are an excellent 
article of food, and are well worth rearing for the table. 
A very interesting account is given in the proceedings of the 
Zoological Society of London of the incubation o t these in¬ 
teresting birds, and the production of their young; it also proves • 
how easily they can be domesticated, and their tameness, and 
the interest attached to them from their peculiai habits, ma> 
induce us to lose no time in making an early trial of them here. 
The pair of talegallas during the spring and summer of 1800 
formed a large hatching mound, composed of leaves, grass, earth, 
and other materials. Within this heap of warm fermenting 
gatherings, the female deposited twenty eggs, with the small end 
downwards. The time of laying, the interval of time between 
each egg, and the period of incubation are at present unknown. 
