Page:Bird-lore Vol 05.djvu/18



The Mound-Building Birds of Australia

BY A. J. CAMPBELL. Melbaurne Author of "NM: and Eggs‘ ui Amzulian Birds“

wm. photographs [mm mm

NCOURAGED by the appreciation of my article on 'The Bower E Birds of Australia,’ which appeared in BIRD-LURE for October. 1900, I have ventured to give a sketch of our mound—build-

ing birds,

The mound-building birds are ornithological curiosities, not only of Australia, but of the world There are three kinds. namely, the Mallee Fowl (Lipun owl/am), the Brush Turkey (Crltln'turm lat/mini), and the Scrub Fowl (II/[egapodim (llzprrreyik

The NIallee Fowl, a remarkable and truly solitary creature, dwells in the drier and more arid scrubs of parts of the southern half of Australia. being partial to the mallee (a species of dwarf eucalypt) timber tracts; hence the common name ‘lVIallee‘ Hen or Fowl. This bird resembles very much in size and shape a grayish mottled domestic Turkey, but it is smaller, more compact. and stouter in the legs It has no wattle about its head, but there is a tuft of dark feathers falling back gracefully from the crown. On account of this tuft some of the western native tribes call the bird ‘Ngowmo,’ ‘Ngnoweer.’ meaning a tuft of feathers Some of the eastern tribes called the bird ‘Louan 'or ‘Lowarree.’

The most striking feature in the economy of the l\/Iallee Fowl is that it does not incubate its eggs in the usual manner of birds. but deposits them in a large mound of sand. where they are hatched by the sun's rays together with the heat engendered by decomposing vegetation placed underneath the sand and eggs, In constructing a new nest or mound, the bird selects a slight hollow.—invariably a shallow water-track in almost impenetrable scrub or bush. The spot is hollowed or scooped out and ﬁlled with dead leaves or other vegetable matter, Then all is com- pletely enveloped with sand. which is scraped up for several yards around: