Page:Acclimatisation; its eminent adaptation to Australia.djvu/27

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 (emberiza chlorocephala), or green-headed bunting. 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 (megapodius tumulus), leipoa or mallee bird of the Murray (leipoa occellata), and the talegalla or brush turkey (talegalla Lathami), all considered 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 representatives of their class. The brush turkey is now becoming acclimatised in England; the young are produced in the Zoological Gardens of London, and I 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 of these interesting 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 peculiar habits, may 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.