LEIPOA OCELLATA, Gould.
Ocellated Leipoa.

Leipoa ocellata, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc., October 13, 1840
. . i i
Ngow, Aborigines of the lowland ; Ngow-oo, of the mountain districts of Weste

igor : rm Australia.
Native Pheasant, Colonists of Western Australia,

 

Tus beautiful bird is among the most interesting of the novelties which the little-explored regions of

Australia have lately unfolded to us; sinc a ee Tee Xe oe

: oe S$; since, by its discovery, and a knowledge of its fabiiee wee ee

to assign to its proper family (the Megapodine) the
Latham.

The Ocellated Leipoa appears to be more peculiarly suited for a plain and Oo}

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 destitiedite saliatce

singular species figured under the name of Talegalla
en country than for the

A sketch of its economy,
as far as it has yet been ascertained, has been sent me by Mr. John Gilbert, and is here given in his own nerds -

“The following account of the habits, manners, and nidification of this bird have been detailed to me
by G. Moore, Esq., Advocate-General, Mr. Armstrong, the aboriginal interpreter, and some of the more
intelligent natives of Western Australia. Mr. Moore saw a great many of them about sixty miles north
of Perth; but its most favorite country appears to be the barren sandy plains of the interior, 100 miles
north and east of York. It is a ground bird, never taking to a tree except when closely hunted ; when
pursued it will frequently run its head into a bush, and is then easily taken. In its acnone and manners
it is very like the domestic fowl. Its food generally consists of seeds and berries. It has a mournful note,
very like that of a pigeon, but with a more inward tone. The eggs are deposited in a mound of sand, the
formation of which is the work of both sexes: the natives say they scratch up the sand for many yards
around, forming a mound of about three feet in height ; the inside being constructed of alternate lavers of
dried leaves, grasses, &c., among which the eggs are deposited to the number of twelve and upwards, and
covered up by the birds as laid; or, as the natives express it, ‘the countenances of the eggs are never
visible.’ The bird never sits upon the eggs; but when she has laid her number the whole are covered up,
after which the mound of sand resembles an ant’s nest. The eggs are hatched by the heat of the sun’s rays,
the vegetable lining of the hillock retaining sufficient warmth during the night: the eggs are deposited in
layers, no two eggs being suffered to lie without a division. They are about the size of a fowl’s egg, and are
white, very slightly tinged with red. The natives are exceedingly fond of them, and rob the mounds two or
three times in a season; they judge of the probable number of eggs in the heap by the quantity of
feathers lying around. If these are abundant, they know the hillock is full, when they immediately open it
and take the whole; upon which the bird will again commence laying, to be robbed a second time, and will
frequently lay a third time. Upon questioning one of the men attached to Mr. Moore’s expedition, he gave
me a similar account of its habits and mode of incubating ; adding, that in all the mounds they opened they
found ants almost as numerous as in an ant-hill, and that in many instances that part of the mound sur-
rounding the lower portion of the eggs had become so hard, they were obliged to chip round them with
a chisel to get them out: the insides of the mounds were always hot.”

Captain Grey, of the 83rd Regiment, who has just returned from his expedition to the north-west coast,
has also furnished me with the following information respecting its range, &c.: “ The farthest point north,”
says this gentleman, ‘at which I have seen the breeding-places of this bird, is Gantheaume Bay. The natives
of King George’s Sound say the same, or a nearly allied species, exists in that neighbourhood. I have never
fallen a afl 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 native paths, it is almost impossible
to force your way through. In these close scrubby woods small open glades occasionally occur, and here
the Nedw-00 Coatructs its nest, a large heap of sand, dead grass ane Douay at least nine feet in diameter,
and three feet in height: I have seen them even larger than this. Upon one occasion only I saw eggs
in these nests ; they were placed some distance from each other, and buried in the earth. I am not sure

of the number, but the account given by the natives led me to believe that at times large numbers are
? UO .

found.”

The Ocellated Leipoa is altogether a more

slender and elegantly formed bird than the Wattled Talegalla,
hat bird in having the head and neck thickly clothed with feathers, and in being
Cc Cc 5 :)

and moreover differs from t
adorned with a beautifully variegated style of colouring.

Head and crest blackish brown ; neck and shoulders dark ash grey ; . =
a series of lanceolate feathers, which are black with a white stripe down the
Cc Ss ‘

the fore part of the former, from the

chin to the breast, marked by
centre; back and wings conspicuously m

near the tip of each feather, the marks assuming 3
ked with zigzag lines of darker brown ;

arked with three distinct bands of greyish white, brown and black
Cc = : ; -
an ocellate form, particularly on the tips of the seconda-
i 5 rump and upper tail-
ries ; primaries brown, their outer webs mar : hae

he latter transversely marked with two or
of the flank feathers barred with black ; tail blackish

ree Z1QZag “Ss near
coverts brownish grey, the feathers of t three zigzag lines nea
their tip; all the under surface light buff, the tips | :
brown, broadly tipped with buff ; bill black ; feet blackish brown.
The figures are about two-thirds of the natural size.

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