BIRDS. 259 
light found a young bird in a hole about two feet deep ; 
it was lying on a few dry withered leaves, and appeared 
only a few days old. So far I was satisfied that these 
mounds had some connexion with the bird's mode of in- 
cubation ; but I was still sceptical as to the probability 
of these young birds ascending from so great a depth as 
the natives represented, and my suspicions were confirmed 
by my being unable to induce the native, in this instance, 
to search for the eggs, his excuse being that he knew it 
would be no use, as he saw no traces of the old birds 
having recently been there. I took the utmost care of 
the young bird, intending to rear it if possible ; I there- 
fore obtained a moderately -sized box, and placed in it a 
large portion of sand. As it fed rather freely on bruised 
Indian corn, I was in full hopes of succeeding ; but it 
proved of so wild and intractable a disposition, that it 
would not reconcile itself to such close confinement, and 
effected its escape on the third day. During the period it 
remained in captivity, it was incessantly occupied in 
scratching up the sand into heaps, and the rapidity with 
which it threw the sand from one end of the box to the 
other, was quite surprising for so young and small a bird, 
its size not being larger than that of a small quail. 
"At night it was so restless, that I was constantly kept 
awake by the noise it made in its endeavours to escape. 
In scratching up the sand it only used one foot, and 
having grasped a handful, as it were, the sand was thrown 
behind it, with but little apparent exertion, and without 
shifting its standing position on the other leg; this habit 
seemed to be the result of an innate restless disposition, 
and a desire to use its powerful feet, and to have but 
little connexion with its feeding; for although Indian 
corn was mixed with the sand, I never detected the bird 
in picking any of it up while thus employed. 
" I continued to receive the eggs without having any 
opportunity of seeing them taken from the mound until 
