Page:Bird-lore Vol 05.djvu/19

 4 Bird - Lore

the birds using their strong feet for scraping, and their breast and wings for impelling the sand forward. The dimensions of an ordinary mound (which is usually more or less cone-shaped) by actual tape measurement, which I took on the spot, were ten feet in diameter at base by about two feet in height. There appeared to be about one hundred and ﬁfty cubic feet of sand and rubbish. Notwithstanding the large dimensions of the mound. the portion of the center containing the eggs was only about fifteen inches in diameter. Only a pair of birds own a mound, which they commence to build (or to reconstruct an old one) about

.\HI,I.F.E FUWL (Liprml Mm Goum

June or ~luly, although the female does not lay until September or October. No doubt the mound is so prepared early to receive the winter and spring rains; the water collecting in the shallow course, and consequently run- ning through and underneath the leaves, it is left open for that purpose (see illustration). An inch or two of dry. loose sand covers the leaves. Then comes a tier or layer of four eggs (Gould states eight), each being placed perpendicularly on its small end. The four eggs are placed four or ﬁve inches apart, forming a square, More sand covers them and another tier of eggs is placed opposite the interstices of the underneath tier, and so on, till a complement of twelve or even sixteen is sometimes reached. But it should be remembered that the mound is completely built up after it has received the necessary rain or moisture, and is opened every time the female lays: consequently a great amount of toil devolves