Mound-Birds

peculiar jungle-fowls of Australia. They are about as large as an ordinary barnyard fowl. They have stout legs and large feet. They inhabit the bush and scrub, usually near water, and go in pairs and in flocks. The plumage is dull. Their flight is slow and heavy. The popular name has reference to a habit of heaping up mounds of earth and decaying vegetable matter in which to bury their eggs. These heaps are made usually in the shade of trees to preserve their moisture. They are so large that they were mistaken at first for native burial mounds. The female buries her eggs deep down in the muck, depending, it is claimed, on the heat of fermentation, like that of a hotbed or incubator, to hatch the young. The chicks appear full-feathered, like young partridges, ready to run or fly.