leer LON AR ORD RU Cr ORNE
XXVIII
“ Few birds are more wary and less easily procured than the Megapodius ; it inhabits the belts of brush along
the coast, and I never found the tumulus at a greater distance from the sea than a ry hundred yards. When
disturbed it seldom rises at once, unless on the margin of a thicket, but runs off to some distance and then takes to
wing, flying heavily, but without any of the whirring noise of a true Gallenaieg It seldom takes : long flizht,
and usually perches on a tree, remaining there in a crouching attitude ue ouisee neck, but flying off again
upon observing any motion made by its pursuer; and it is only by cautiously creeping up under cover of the
largest trees that it can be approached within gunshot. As an example of its shyness, I aay mention that a party
of three persons, scattered about in a small jungle on Nogo Island, for the purpose of shooting the Megapodius, did
not see a single bird, although they put up several, one of which came towards me and perched, unconscious of my
presence, within 20 yards. At Port Essington I have shot this bird among mangroves, the roots of which were
washed by the sea at high water; and Capt. F. P. Blackwood killed one while running on the mud in a similar
locality, in both instances close to a mound. I never witnessed the escape of the young from the mound; but one,
as large as a quail, and covered with feathers, was brought to Lieut. Ince by a native, who affirmed that he had
dug it out along with several eggs.
6 Iris yellowish brown; stomach a complete gizzard, being thick and muscular, containing small quartz
pebbles, small shells (Helix and Bulimus), and black seeds ; intestine 34 inches in length, of the size of a 200se-
quill, and nearly uniform in thickness, much twisted and contracted at intervals ; ceecum slender, dilated at the

extremity, and 46 inches in length.”

Family TINAMIDA ?, G. R. Gray.

Subfamily TURNICINA, G. R. Gray.

Genus Pepionomus, Gould.
Generic characters.
Bill nearly as long as the head, straight, compressed towards the tip; nostrils basal, placed in a groove, and
protected by an operculum; wings short and concave, first, second and third primaries equal in length; tertiaries
longer than the primaries ; tail nearly obsolete; tarsi elongated and defended in front with transverse scales; toes

four in number, the hinder one feeble and placed high on the tarsus.
Few of the discoveries I made in Australia interested me more than that of the species forming the subject of

the present genus, and of which during my sojourn in the country I only obtained a male. Subsequently Mr.

Strange sent me another example, which from its much larger size and the circumstance of its neck being adorned

with a beautiful collar of mingled black and white feathers, I considered a distinct species and characterized it as

such, under the name P. torquatus, and assigned that of microurus to the males or birds destitute of the collar, an

error which the observations of Sir George Grey and Mr. Strange have enabled me to rectify, and which shows

that this bird is another of the anomalies so often met with in Australia, since, contrary to the general rule, the

female is a far finer and more conspicuously-coloured bird than her mate.
r . . . : yea:
“You ask me,” says Sir George Grey, “ to tell you something about Pedionomus. There is but one species ;

you have described two, P. torquatus and P. microurus ; the former is the female and the latter is the male. We

ar to your P. torquatus. We had four; the fourth, which
died, was like your P. microurus; and was certainly a male ;

have now three of these birds in confinement, all simil

they were all caught in the same net, hence I infer
that several females associate with one male.
“We have had several of these birds in confinement at different times ; they eat pounded wheat, raw and

boiled rice, bread and flies; the latter appear to be their favourite food. They soon become perfectly tame ; the

three now in our possession we have had for upwards of four months.

co ry xe ren 7 anes YI. » r ) 7 1 ] 1 i
These birds are migi atory ; they appear at Adelaide in June and disappear about January ; where they go

They never fly if they can avoid so doing, and are often caught by dogs; when
disturbed, they crouch down and endeavour to hide themselves in a tuft of grass. When running about they are

has not yet been ascertained.