Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/232

 the blacks, who, when the reeds are dry, set fire to them, in order to dislodge these birds, and thus kill great numbers.

One of the best birds for the table is the brush-turkey; it lives solely in dense brushes, and is about equal in size to a guinea fowl. Its plumage is dark-coloured, and it has a naked head and neck resembling that of a turkey. The manner in which the eggs of this bird are hatched is very singular. It collects an immense quantity of leaves and rotten sticks, and forms with them an enormous nest of several feet in diameter and of a conical shape. In this mass of decomposing vegetation, several of these birds lay their eggs, which are excessively large in proportion to the bird itself, as they are much superior in size to the eggs of the goose or common turkey. These eggs are carefully buried in the nest, and become hatched by the heat generated by the decomposition of the leaves, &c. of which the nest is composed. The brush- turkey is a foolish bird, very easily shot, and which consequently soon becomes scarce, as the banks of the rivers become occupied by settlers. The stupidity of the brush-turkey may be judged of, from the fact, that one evening, when my tents were pitched in the brush, on the banks of Kinchela creek, a turkey ran right across the fire, and was caught by the men. It also frequently falls a prey to the dingo.