68 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
skin of the head and the neck is deep pink red, thinly sprinkled 
with short hair-like blackish brown feathers. The wattle is bright 
yellow, tinged with red, where it unites with the red of the neck, 
The bill is black ; the irides and the feet are brown. ‘There are 
eighteen feathers in the tail. 
Habits.—It is a gregarious bird, generally moving about in 
small companies; it is very shy and distrustful, resorting to the 
branches of trees as a shelter from the mid-day sun. When dis- 
turbed it readily eludes pursuit by the facility with which it runs 
through the tangled brush. If hard pressed or when rushed upon 
by the dingo, the whole company spring upon a bough of a tree, 
and by a succession of leaps gain the top, and either perch there or 
fly off to another part of the brush. The wattled talegalla does 
not hatch its eggs by incubation. They collect an immense heap of 
decaying vegetuble matter as a depository for the eggs. The heap 
is collected by the birds during several weeks previous to the period 
of laying. Several birds unite in raising the mound: in collecting 
the materials the bird never uses its bill, but grasping a leaf or a 
twig with its foot, it throws it back to a common centre. 
Mound-raising (Dr. Ramsay).—I found that two or more females 
visited the same mound to lay their eggs in; and when this is the 
case the mound is often twice as large as an ordinary mound. It 
seems probable that several individuals assist in scratching the 
mound together, when a space often fifty yards in diameter (on level 
ground) is cleared of almost every fallen leaf and twig. The mounds 
are often 6 feet in height, and 12 tol4 yards wide at the base; 
sometimes they are more conical. The central portion consists of 
decayed leaves mixed with fine débris, the next of coarser and less 
rotted materials ; and the outside is a mass of recently-gathered 
leaves, sticks and twigs not showing signs of decay. In opening 
the nest these are easily removed, and must be carefully pushed 
backwards over the sides, beginning at the top. Having cleared 
these, and obtained plenty of room, remove the semi-decayed strata, 
and below it where the fermentation has begun, in a mass of light 
fine leaf-mould will be found the eggs placed with the thin end 
downwards, often in a circle, with three or four in the centre, about 
6 inches apart. At one side where the eggs have been first laid 
they will probably be found more or less developed, but in the 
centre where the eggs are placed, quite fresh; and if only one pair 
of birds have laid in the mound, about 12 to 18 eggs will be the 
complement, and will be found arranged as described above. On 
the other hand, if several females resort to the same nest the 
regularity will be greatly interfered with, and 2 or 3 eggs in 
different stages of development will be found close to one another, 
some quite fresh, others within a few days of being hatched. There 
are usually 10 eggs in the first layer, 5 or 6 in the second, 3 or 4 
in the centre. I found that the females return every second day to 
lay, but never succeeded in ascertaining which of the parent birds 
opens the nest. The aborigines said that the male bird always 
performs this office ; and I usually found my black boys very correct. 
