Inhabits the neighbourhood of Port Essington, is much smaller than G. tranquilla, but in colour and marking
is precisely similar to that species.
437. Geopelia cuneata ...... .......................................................................................................... . Vol. V. PI. 74.
“ All that we read or imagine of the softness and innocence of the dove,” says Captain Sturt, “ is realized in
this beautiful and delicate bird ; it is common on the Murray and the Darling, and was met with in various parts of
the interior. Two remained with us at the Dépôt in latitude 39° 40', longitude 142°, during a great pa rt of the
winter, and on one occasion roosted on the tent-ropes near the fire. Its note is exceedingly plaintive, similar to,
but softer than, that of the turtle-dove of Europe.”
Genus M a c r o p y g ia , Sioaitis.
A genus the members of which are distributed over India, Java, New Guinea, Ceram, the Moluccas, Australia,
&c. Only one species, M. Phasianella, has yet been found in the last-mentioned country, but others may be
discovered when its eastern and northern parts have been more fully explored.
438. Macropygia Phasianella . . . . . . Vol. V. PI. 75.
The interior of the dense brushes are the favourite haunts of this bird, but it occasionally resorts to the crowns
of the low hills and the open glades of the forest, where it searches for its food on the ground; on being disturbed
it flies to the branches of the nearest tree, spreading out its broad tail at the moment of alighting.
Genus D id u n c u l u s , Peale.
Since I drew and described this most anomalous form, under the name assigned to it by Sir William Jardine,
two important facts have been ascertained respecting it, viz. that it is identical with the bird described by Mr.
Titian Peale of America under the name of Didunculus, and that the Samoan Islands and not Australia is its true
habitat.
Didunculus strigirostris.
439. Gnathodon strigirostris, Jard.' . . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. V. PI. 76.
Family MEGAPODIDjE, G. R . Gray.
The genera Talegalla, Leipoa and Megapodius form part of a great family of birds inhabiting Australia, New
Guinea, Celebes, and the Philippine Islands, whose habits and economy are most singular and differ from those
of every other group of birds which now exists upon the surface of our globe. In their structure they are most
nearly allied to the Gallinacece, while in some of their actions and in their mode of flight they much resemble the
Rallidee; the small size of their brain, coupled with the extraordinary means employed for the incubation of their
eggs, indicates an extremely low degree of organization.
The three species of the family inhabiting Australia, although referable to three distinct genera, have many
habits in common, particularly in their mode of nidification—each and all depositing their eggs in mounds of earth
and leaves, which, becoming heated either by the fermentation of the vegetable matter, or by the sun’s rays, form
a kind of natural hatching-apparatus, from which the young at length emerge fully feathered, and capable of
sustaining life by their own unaided efforts.
Genus T a l e g a l l a , Less.
440. Talegalla Lathami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. V. Pi. 77.
Inhabits all the brushes and scrubby forests of the eastern parts of Australia. Mr. M'Gillivray informs me,
in a letter lately received from him, dated on board H.M.S. “ Rattlesnake,” February 6th, 1848, “ At Port Molle I
shot in the brushes both Megapodius and Talegalla,” which proves that the range of the latter bird is much greater
than I have stated.
Genus L e i p o a, Gould;
Generic characters.
Bill nearly as long as the head, slender, swollen at the base; tomia undulating, and curving downwards;
nostrils large, oblong, defended by an operculum and placed in the centre of a groove ; head sub-crested ; wings
large, round and concave ; the first five primaries equal and longest ; tertiaries nearly as long as the primaries ; tail
round and composed of fourteen feathers ; tarsi moderately robust, scutellated in front, posteriorly defended with
round scales ; toes somewhat short ; the lateral toes nearly equal in length.
441. Leipoa ocellata, Gould . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. V. PL 78.
Since I wrote my account of this bird, it has been found to be abundantly dispersed over all parts of the
¡Murray Scrub in South Australia.
The following highly interesting account has been forwarded to me by His Excellency Captain Sir George Grey,
being the result of his observations of the bird made while Governor of South Australia :—-
11 M y DEAR M r . G o u l d , “ Government House, Adelaide, December 12th, 1842.
“ I have lately returned from the Murray, where I have been studying the habits and manners of the Leipoa
ocellata, which is very plentiful in the sandy districts of the Scrub. The eyes of the living bird are of a bright,
light hazel; its legs and feet dark brown, but not so dark as shown in your Plate ; whilst the bare parts on the
head and face are of a very delicate and clear blue. The gizzard is very large and muscular; the inner coats
peculiarly horny and hard. Its food consists chiefly of insects, such as Phasmidce and a species of Cimex ; it also
feeds on the seeds of various shrubs. The entire lungs and intestines of the one which I dissected were full of
Teenioïdes. I have never seen any other animal infested with them to anything like the same extent, and yet the
bird was perfectly healthy. I t possesses the power of running with extraordinary rapidity ; it roosts at night on
trees, and never flies if it can avoid so doing ;—the male bird weighs about four pounds and a half.
“ The mounds they construct are from 12 to 13 yards in circumference at the base, and from % to 3 feet in
height ; the general form being that of a dome. The sand and grass are sometimes scraped up for a distance of
from 15 to 16 feet from its outer edge.
“ The mound appears to be constructed as follows : a nearly circular hole of about 18 inches in diameter, is
scratched in the ground to the depth of 7 or 8 inches, and filled with dead leaves, dead grass and similar materials •
and a large mass of the same substances is placed a l round it upon the ground. Over this first layer a large
mound of sand, mixed with dried grass, &c., is thrown, and finally the whole assumes the form of a dome, as I
have before stated.
“ When an egg is to be deposited, the top is laid open, and a hole scraped in its centre to within 2 or 3 inches
of the bottom of the layer of dead leaves. The egg is placed in the sand just at the edge of the hole, in a vertical
position, with the smaller end downwards. The sand is then thrown in again, and the mound left in its original
form. The egg which has been thus deposited is therefore completely surrounded and enveloped in soft sand
having from 4 to 6 inches of sand between the lower end of the egg and the layer of dead leaves. When a second
egg is laid it is deposited in precisely the same plane as the first, but at the opposite side of the hole before alluded
to. When a third egg is laid it is placed in the same plane as thé others, but, as it were, at the third corner of a
square. When the fourth egg is laid, it is still placed in the same plane ; but in the fourth comer of the square,
or rather of the lozenge, the figure being of this form, o|© ; the next four eggs in succession are placed in the