The OCELLATED LEIPOA (_Leipoa ocellata_) has a slender body and a broad
rounded wing, in which the second quill exceeds the rest in length; the
tail, formed of fourteen feathers, is long, broad, and much rounded; the
powerful foot is high, the beak comparatively small and straight. The
colour of the head and crest is blackish brown, of the neck and shoulders
dark ash-grey; the fore part of the former, from the chin to the breast,
is marked by a series of lanceolate feathers, which are black, with a
white stripe down the centre; the back and wings are conspicuously marked
with three distinct bands of greyish white, brown, and black; near the tip
of each feather the marks assume an ocellate form, particularly on the
tips of the secondaries. The primaries are brown, their outer webs marked
with zigzag lines of darker brown; the rump and upper tail-covers are
brownish grey, the feathers of the latter transversely marked with two or
three zigzag lines near their tip; all the under surface is light buff;
the tips of the flank-feathers are barred with black; the tail is blackish
brown, broadly tipped with buff; the bill black, and the foot blackish
brown.
"The Ocellated Leipoa," says Gould, "appears to be more peculiarly suited
for a plain and open country than for the tangled brush; and it is most
curious to observe how beautifully the means employed by Nature for the
reproduction of the species is adapted to the situations it is destined to
inhabit." The following sketches of its economy, so far as it has yet been
ascertained, were given me by Gilbert and Sir George Grey, and are here
reproduced in their own words:--
"Wongan Hills, Western Australia, _September_ 28, 1842.
"This morning I had the good fortune to penetrate into the dense thicket
I had so long been anxious to visit in search of the Leipoa's eggs, and
had not proceeded far before the native who was with me told me to keep
a good look out, as we were among the Ngou-oo's hillocks; and in half an
hour after, we found one, around which the brush was so thick that we
were almost running over it before seeing it. So anxious was I to see
the hidden treasures within that, in my haste, I threw aside the black
fellow and began scraping off the upper part of the mound; this did not
please him at all, and he became very indignant, at the same time making
me understand that as I had never seen this nest before, I had better
trust him to get out the eggs, or I should, in my haste and impatience,
certainly break them. I therefore let him have his own way, and he began
scraping off the earth very carefully from the centre, throwing it over
the side, so that the mound very soon presented the appearance of a huge
basin. About two feet in depth of earth was in this way thrown off, when
the large ends of two eggs met my anxious gaze; both these eggs were
resting on their smaller apex, and the earth round them had to be very
carefully removed to avoid breaking the shell, which is extremely fragile
when first exposed to the atmosphere. About a hundred yards from this
first mound, we came upon a second, rather larger, of the same external
form and appearance; it contained three eggs. Although we saw seven or
eight more mounds, only these two contained eggs: we were too early; a
week later and we should doubtless have found many more. To give you an
idea of the place these birds choose for their remarkable mode of rearing
their young, I will describe it as nearly as I can.
"The Wongan Hills are about 1,300 feet above the level of the sea, in a
north-north-east direction from Drummond's House in the Toodyay. Their
sides are thickly clothed with a dense forest of _Eucalypti_, and at
their base is a thicket, extending for several miles, of upright-growing
and thick bushy plants, so high in most parts that we could not see over
their tops, and so dense that if we only separated for a few yards we
were obliged to 'cooey' to prevent our straying from each other. This
thicket is again shadowed by a very curious species of dwarf _Eucalyptus_,
bearing yellow blossoms, and growing from fifteen to thirty feet in
height, known to the natives as the spear-wood, and of which they make
their spears, digging-sticks, _dowaks_, &c. The whole formation is a fine
reddish iron-stone gravel, and this the Leipoa scratches up for several
yards around, and thus forms its mound, to be afterwards converted into a
hotbed for the reproduction of its offspring. The interior of the mound
is composed of the finer particles of the gravel, mixed with vegetable
matter, the fermentation of which produces a warmth sufficient for the
purpose of hatching. Mr. Drummond, who had been for years accustomed
to hotbeds in England, gave it as his opinion that the heat around the
eggs was about 89°. In both the nests with eggs the White Ant was very
numerous, making its little covered galleries of earth around and attached
to the shell, thus showing a beautiful provision of Nature in preparing
the necessary tender food for the young bird on its emergence. One of the
eggs I have preserved shows the White Ant's tracks most beautifully. The
largest mound I saw, and which appeared as if in a state of preparation
for eggs, measured forty-five feet in circumference, and, if round in
proportion on the top, would have been fully five feet in height. I
remarked that in all the mounds not ready for the reception of eggs
the inside or vegetable portion was always wet and cold; and I imagine
from the state of the others that the bird turns out the whole of the
materials to dry before depositing its eggs and covering them up with the
soil. In both cases where I found eggs, the upper part of the mound was
perfectly and smoothly rounded over, so that any one passing it without
knowing the singular habit of the bird might very readily suppose it to
be an ant-hill. Mounds in this state always contain eggs within, while
those without eggs are not only not rounded over, but have the centres so
scooped out that they form a hollow. The eggs are laid directly in the
centre, all at the same depth, separated only by about three inches of
earth, and so placed as to form a circle. I regret we were so early. Had
we been a week later, the probability is I should have found the circle of
eggs complete. Is it not singular that all the eggs were equally fresh, as
if their development was arrested until the full number were deposited,
so that the young might all appear at the same time? No one considering
the immense size of the egg can suppose for a moment the bird capable
of laying more than one without at least the intermission of a day, and
perhaps even more. Like those of the Megapodius, they are covered with an
epidermis-like coating, and are certainly as large, being three inches and
three-quarters in length by two and a half in breadth. They vary in colour
from a very light brown to a light salmon. During the whole day we did not
succeed in obtaining sight of the bird, although we saw numerous tracks of
its feet, and many places where it had been scratching. We also saw its
tracks on the sand when crossing the dried beds of the swamps at least two
miles from the breeding thicket, which proves that the bird in procuring
its food does not confine itself to the bushes around its nest, but merely
resorts to them for the purpose of incubating. The native informed us
that the only chance of procuring the bird was by stationing ourselves in
sight of the mound at a little distance, and remaining quiet and immovable
till it made its appearance at sundown. This I attempted, and, with the
native, encamped within twenty yards of the mound about an hour before
sunset, taking precautions to conceal ourselves well with bushes from the
quick eye of the bird, but leaving just an opening to get a fair sight
with my gun. In a half-sitting, half-crouching position, I thus remained
in breathless anxiety for the approach of the bird I had so long wished
to see, not daring to move a muscle for fear of stirring a branch or
making a noise by crushing a dead leaf, till I was so cramped that I could
scarcely bear the pain in my limbs. The bird did not, however, make its
appearance, and the native, with the fear of wading through the thicket in
the darkness (for there was no moon), became so impatient that he started
up and began to talk so loud and make so much noise that I was compelled
to give up all hopes of seeing the bird that night. However, just as we
were passing the mound we started the bird from the opposite side, but,
from the denseness of the thicket and the darkness closing round us, I had
no chance of getting a shot at it."
Sir George Grey completes the account given by Gilbert. He says, "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. Its food consists chiefly of insects, such as
_Phasmidæ_ and a species of _Cimex_. It also feeds on the seeds of various
shrubs. It possesses the power of running with extraordinary rapidity; it
roosts at night on trees, and never flies if it can avoid so doing.
"The mounds it constructs are from twelve to thirteen yards in
circumference at the base, and from two to three feet in height, the
general form being that of a dome. The sand and grass are sometimes
scraped up for a distance of from fifteen to sixteen feet from its outer
edge. The mound appears to be constructed as follows:--A nearly circular
hole of about eighteen inches in diameter is scratched in the ground to
the depth of seven or eight inches, and filled with dead leaves, dead
grass, and similar materials; and a large mass of the same substance is
placed all around 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, within two or three 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 thus been deposited is therefore completely surrounded and enveloped
in soft sand, having from four to six 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 still
placed in the same plane as the 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 corner of the square, or rather of the
lozenge, the figure being of this form, [Illustration]; the next four eggs
in succession are placed in the interstices, but always on the same plane,
so that at last there is a circle of eight eggs all standing upright
in the sand, with several inches of sand intervening between each. The
male bird assists the female in opening and covering up the mound, and,
provided the birds are not themselves disturbed, the female continues to
lay several eggs in the same mound, even after it has been several times
robbed. The natives say that the females lay an egg every day. Eight is
the greatest number I have heard of, from good authority, as having been
found in one nest.
"The farthest point north at which I have seen the breeding-places of
these birds is in Gantheaume Bay. The natives of King George's Sound say
that the bird exists in their neighbourhood. I have never fallen in with
its nests but in one description of country, viz., where the soil was dry
and sandy, and so thickly wooded with a species of dwarf _Leptospermum_
that if you stray from the paths it is almost impossible to force your way
through."
Besides the above particulars, we have from Gould the following account,
which he elicited by cross-examination of several natives:--"There is
only one male and one female to each mound; they repair an old mound, and
do not build a new one; both assist in scratching the sand to the nest.
The female commences laying about the beginning of September, or when the
spear-grass begins to shoot. Both sexes approach the nest together when
the female is about to lay, and they take an equal share in the labour of
covering and uncovering the mound. After every sunrise the female lays an
egg, and lays altogether from eight to ten. If the natives rob the mound,
the female will lay again in the same nest, but she will only lay the full
number of eggs twice in one summer. From the commencement of building
until the last eggs are hatched, four moons elapse--this would give a very
long period of time before the eggs were hatched. The young one scratches
its way out alone, the mother does not assist it. They usually come out
one at a time, occasionally a pair appear together. The mother, who is
feeding in the scrub in its vicinity, hears its call and runs to it; she
then takes care of the young one as a European Hen does of its chick. When
all are hatched, the mother is accompanied by eight or ten young ones, who
remain with her until they are more than half grown. The male bird does
not accompany them. The two sexes have different calls, that of the female
is constantly uttered as she walks about the scrub with her young ones.
"The natives frequently find the nest and eggs, but they seldom see the
old birds, as they are very timid and quick-sighted. They run very fast
like the Emu, roost on trees, live for a long time without water, but
drink when it rains. The Ocellated Leipoa is a remarkably stout compact
bird, and appears when alive to have as large a body as the female Turkey,
but it is shorter in the legs. Mr. Schomburghk states that an egg he
took home and placed under a Domestic Hen was hatched the next day, and
the young bird appeared covered with feathers, and capable of at once
obtaining its own food."
* * * * *
The MEGAPODES (_Megapodii_) have a large slender body, moderate-sized
neck, and large head; the broadly-rounded wing has the third, fourth,
and fifth quills of equal length; the tail, formed of ten feathers, is
short and rounded; the tarsus very strong, and longer than the long,
powerful middle toe, which is armed like the rest with a formidable and
slightly-hooked claw. The straight beak is usually shorter than the head,
and vaulted towards its tip. The thick plumage is prolonged upon the back
of the head and the region of the eye; a large portion of the head and
the throat and neck are always bare. We are indebted to Gould, Gilbert,
and Macgillivray for full particulars respecting the mode of life of the
Megapodes. "The habits and economy of the birds comprised in this family
are," says Gould, "both curious and extraordinary, nor are they less
singular in their structure; indeed, in my own opinion, no group of birds
is more isolated. By one of our best ornithologists one species has been
classed with the _Vultures_, another placed it with _Meleagres_, and a
third authority considered it to be allied to the genus _Ralles_. From
the colonists of Australia the three species inhabiting that country
have received the trivial names of Brush Turkey, Native Pheasant, and
Jungle Fowl, but to none of these birds are they in any way allied. In
general appearance the _Megapodidæ_ offer a certain degree of alliance
to the _Gallinaceæ_, but in the peculiar shape, colouring, and odour of
their eggs, and in the mode in which they are incubated, they are totally
different, and in some of these respects resemble the tortoises and
turtles. Three species belonging to different genera inhabit Australia;
others exist in New Guinea and the neighbouring islands, and extend as far
north as the Philippines."