Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/244

Rh that this was "Jungle-fowl's house." Mr. Gilbert having scrambled up the side of it, found in a hole, two feet deep, a young bird, apparently only a few days old, lying on some dry leaves. The native decided, from the absence of recent traces of the old birds, that it was useless to search for eggs. The young bird was put into a box, with a quantity of sand and some Indian corn, which it ate freely. Its disposition was wild and intractable, and it was incessantly employed in scratching up the sand into heaps, and throwing it from one end of the box to another with a surprising rapidity for so small a bird. In scratching, the bird employed only one foot, and having grasped a handful, as it were, threw it behind with little apparent exertion, and without shifting its standing position on the other leg, an action which seemed to have little connexion with its feeding; for though the corn was mixed with the sand, Mr. Gilbert never detected the bird in picking up any while thus engaged. At night it was so restless and noisy, that it was impossible to sleep, making efforts to escape, which, on the third day, it effected.

Some months after this Mr. Gilbert saw two eggs taken from a depth of six feet, in one of the largest mounds he had met with. The holes ran obliquely downwards, so that, though the eggs were six feet from the summit, they were not more than two or three feet distant from the side. A single egg is laid in each hole, which is then filled with earth lightly thrown in, and smoothed at the top. To reach the eggs requires no little exertion and perseverance; the natives dig them up with the hands alone, making only sufficient