AUSTRALIAN MEGAPODE. 27 
ards apart, on the base of the old one, which was so matted and 
interlaced with roots from the neighbouring trees that it appeared 
to me a marvel how the birds could burrow into it the great length 
they did; and having laid their eggs there, however the young 
birds found their way out through the maze of roots is still a 
mystery. Once out, however, and their wings dry, they are able 
to take care of themselves, but remain about the mounds for a day 
or so, as if waiting for some of their companions, but in less than a 
week from the day they are hatched they may frequently be seen at 
least a quarter of a mile away, and well able to fly about. Upon 
more occasions than one I saw the birds at their mound or feeding 
near it, but never saw them burrowing. ‘The largest mound I met 
with was about 50 feet fn length, 10 in height, 14 in width at the 
base, and 8 or 10 at the summit. It seemed to be more like 
several mounds combined; and certainly more than two pairs of 
birds frequented it. In form the eggs are elongated ovals, being 
nearly equal at both ends, the normal colour when newly laid being 
of a pale coffee-brown, but after remaining in the mound a few 
days they become darker. An egg taken at Cairns was 3'5 x 2 
inches. 
Food. —Rerries, seeds, and insects, especially grasshoppers and 
beetles of all kinds; also roots, which its claws enable it to scratch 
up with the utmost facility. 
Where found. —It is confined to thenorthern coasts of Australia 
and the islands near it. It is numerous over the whole of the 
Cohourg Peninsula. It has been met with in the south of New 
Guinea, immediately opposite to Cape York ; also near Port Denison, 
Cape York, Rockingham Bay, and Port Essington. It frequents 
the dense thickets immediately adjacent to the sea-beach. It 
appears never to go far inland, except along the banks of creeks. 
This mound-raiser is very plentiful north after passing Port 
Denison. It is met with in tolerable numbers as far south as the 
Pioneer River. On the Herbert River it it not much sought after 
as an article of food either by the natives or whites ; for as its eggs 
are esteemed a delicacy, the birds themselves arenot much molested, 
DIAMOND SNAKE—Worelia spilotes. 
Description,—One of the characteristics, by which harmless rock 
snakes may be at once distinguished from poisonous serpents, is the 
large number of scales covering their body. The diamond snake is 
handsome. It has the body scales in 47 rows, with about 276 to 
300 ventral plates, and the scales under the tail divided into 80/80 
or 90/90 or more, ‘The sub-caudal plates vary in almost every 
individual. As the much-used prehensile tail is liable to be injured 
or broken, it is not reproduced like the tail of lizards. The general 
colour of the diamond snake is a kind of bluish-black, very glossy 
when the skin is fresh and the epidermis lately shed, but becoming 
duller after the wear and tear of a few months, and quite opaque 
just before the skin-shedding begins. As a rule diamond snakes 
