The BRUSH TURKEY, or WATTLED TALLEGALLUS (_Catheturus_, or _Tallegallus
Lathami_), is of a beautiful chocolate-brown on the upper portions of the
body, and light brown on the under side, which is marked with silver-grey.
The eye is light brown, the wattle bright yellow, the beak lead-grey,
and the foot light reddish brown. The bare skin on the head and neck is
scarlet. This species is two feet and a half long; the wing measures
twelve inches, and the tail nine inches and a half. The female closely
resembles her mate.
"How far the range of the Wattled Tallegallus may extend," says Mr.
Gould, "is not yet satisfactorily ascertained; it is known to inhabit
various parts of New South Wales, from Cape Howe to Moreton Bay, and Mr.
Macgillivray informed me that he had killed it as far up the east coast as
Port Molle. The assaults of the cedar-cutters and others, who frequently
hunt through the brushes of Illawarra and Maitland, had, however, nearly
extirpated it from those localities when I visited the colony in 1838, and
it probably does not now exist there; but I believe it is still plentiful
in the dense and little-trodden brushes of the Manning and Clarence. I was
at first led to believe the country between the mountain ranges and the
coast constituted its sole habitat, but I was agreeably surprised when I
found it in the Liverpool brushes and in the scrubby gullies and sides of
the lower hills that branch off towards the interior.
"It has often been asserted that Australia abounds in anomalies, and in
no instance is the truth of this assertion more fully exemplified than in
the history of this very singular bird, respecting the situation of which
in the natural system much diversity of opinion, as above noticed, has
hitherto prevailed. It was consequently one of the birds which demanded my
utmost attention during my visit to Australia.
"The most remarkable circumstance connected with the economy of this
species is the fact of its eggs not being incubated in the manner of other
birds. At the commencement of the spring the Wattled Tallegallus scratches
together an immense heap of decaying matter as a depository for the eggs,
and trusts to the heat developed by the process of fermentation for the
development of the young. The heap employed for this purpose is collected
by the birds during several weeks previous to the period of laying; it
varies in size from two to many cartloads, and in most instances is of a
pyramidal form. The construction of the mound is either the work of one
pair of birds, or, as some suppose, of the united labours of several; the
same site appears to be resorted to for several years in succession, the
birds adding a fresh supply of materials each succeeding season.
"The materials composing these mounds are accumulated by the bird grasping
a quantity in its foot, and throwing it backwards to a common centre, the
surface of the ground for a considerable distance being so completely
scratched over that scarcely a leaf or blade of grass is left. The mound
being completed, and time being left for sufficient heat to be engendered,
the eggs are deposited in a circle at the distance of nine or twelve
inches from each other, and buried more than an arm's depth, with the
large end upwards; they are covered up as they are laid, and allowed to
remain until they are hatched. I have been credibly informed, both by
natives and settlers living near their haunts, that it is not unusual
to obtain half a bushel of eggs at a time from a single mound, and I
have myself seen a native woman bring to the encampment in her net half
that quantity, as the spoils of a foraging excursion to the neighbouring
scrub. Some of the natives state that the females are constantly in the
neighbourhood of the mound about the time the young are likely to be
hatched, and frequently uncover and cover them up again, apparently for
the purpose of assisting those that may have appeared, while others have
informed me that the eggs are merely deposited and the young allowed
to force their way unassisted. One point has been clearly ascertained,
namely, that the young, from the hour that they are hatched, are clothed
with feathers, and have their wings sufficiently developed to enable them
to fly on to the branches of trees, should they need to do so to escape
from danger. They are equally nimble on their legs; in fact, as a moth
emerges from a chrysalis, dries its wings, and flies away, so the youthful
Tallegallus, when it leaves the egg, is sufficiently perfect to be able to
act independently and procure its own food.
"Although, unfortunately," continues Mr. Gould, "I was almost too late
for the breeding season, I nevertheless saw several of these hatching
mounds, both in the interior of New South Wales and at Illawarra. In every
instance they were placed in the most retired and shady glens and on the
slope of a hill, the part above the mound being scratched clean, while all
below remained untouched, as if the birds had found it more easy to convey
the materials down than to throw them up. The eggs are perfectly white, of
a long oval form, three inches and three-quarters long, by two inches and
a half in diameter."
In the Gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, several old
birds have constructed mounds, in which they deposited eggs, and their
young have become developed.
"In the year 1854," says Mr. Sclater, "the singular phenomenon of the
mound-raising faculty of the Tallegallus, which had been well ascertained
in Australia by Mr. Gould, was effectually displayed by a pair of birds.
"On being removed into a sufficiently large enclosure, with an abundance
of vegetable material within reach, the male began at once to throw it up
into a heap behind him, by a scratching motion of his powerful feet, which
projected each footful as he grasped it for a considerable distance in the
rear. As he always began to work at the outer margin of the enclosure, the
material was thrown inwards in concentric circles until it sufficiently
neared the spot selected for the mound to be jerked upon it. As soon as
the mound had risen to a height of about four feet, both birds worked in
reducing it to an even surface, and then began to excavate a depression
in the centre. In this in due time the eggs were placed, as they were
laid, and arranged in a circle about fifteen inches below the summit of
the mound, at regular intervals, with the smaller end of the egg pointing
downwards. The male bird watched the temperature of the mound very
carefully; the eggs were generally covered, a cylindrical opening being
always maintained in the centre of the circle for the purpose of giving
air to them, and probably to prevent the danger of a sudden increase of
heat from the action of the sun, or accelerated fermentation in the mound
itself. In hot days the eggs were nearly uncovered two or three times
between morning and evening. In about a month after the first egg was
supposed to have been laid a young bird was hatched, and is still living
with its parents. Subsequent observation enables us to state that on the
young bird chipping out of the egg, it remains in the mound for at least
twelve hours, without making any effort to emerge from it, being at that
time almost as deeply covered up as the rest of the eggs. On the second
day it comes out with each of its wing-feathers well developed in a sheath
which soon bursts, but apparently it has no inclination to use them, its
powerful feet at once giving it ample means of locomotion. Early in the
afternoon the young bird retires to the mound again, and is partially
covered up for the night by the assiduous father, but at a diminished
depth as compared with the circle of eggs from which it emerged in the
morning. On the third day the nestling is capable of flight, and one of
them accidentally forced its way through the strong netting which covered
the enclosure."
In its native woods this species lives in small companies like other
_Gallinæ_, and while on the ground appears shy and distrustful, but quite
fearless when in the trees. "While stalking about the trees," says Mr.
Gould, "the Tallegallus utters a rather loud clucking noise, but whether
this sound is only produced by the female I could not ascertain; still, I
think that such is the case, and that the spiteful male, who appears to
delight in expanding his richly-coloured fleshy wattles and unmercifully
thrashing his helpmate, is generally mute. In various parts of the brush I
observed depressions in the earth, which the natives informed me were made
by the birds in dusting themselves."
When disturbed, the Wattled Tallegallus readily eludes pursuit by the
facility with which it runs through the tangled brush. If hard pressed, or
when rushed upon by its great enemy the native dog, it springs upon the
lowermost bough of some neighbouring tree, and by a succession of leaps
from branch to branch ascends to the top, and either perches there or
flies off to another part of the brush. It has also the habit of resorting
to the branches of trees as a shelter from the mid-day sun, a peculiarity
that greatly tends to its destruction; for, like the Ruffed Grouse of
America, when assembled in small companies, these birds will allow a
succession of shots to be fired until they are all brought down. Unless
some measures be adopted for their preservation, this circumstance must
lead to an early extinction of this singular species--an event much to be
regretted, since, independently of its being an interesting object for the
aviary, it is an excellent bird for the table.