The Mound-Bird of Australia. 311 
out to the native, and asking him what it was, he replied, 
* Oooregoorga Kambal,' Jungle-fowls' house or nest. I 
then scrambled up the sides of it, and, to my extreme de- 
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 connection 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 con- 
firmed 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 therefore obtained a moderate-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 connection 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 
the 6th of February ; when, on again visiting Knocker's 
Bay, I had the gratification of seeing two taken from a 
