Part 15

“The mounds differ very much in their composition, form and situation: most of those that are placed near the water’s edge were formed of sand and shells without a vestige of any other material, but in some of them I met with a portion of soil and decaying wood; when constructed of this loose material they are very irregular in outline, and often resemble a bank thrown up by a constant heavy surf. One remarkable specimen of this description, situated on the southern side of Knocker’s Bay, has the appearance of a bank, from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, with an average height of five feet; another even more singular is situated at the head of the harbour, and is composed entirely of pebbly iron-stone, resembling a confused heap of sifted gravel; into this I dug to the depth of two or three feet without finding any change of character; it may have been conical originally, but is now without any regularity, and is very extensive, covering a space of at least a hundred and fifty feet in circumference. These remarkable specimens would, however, seem to be exceptions, as by far the greater number are entirely formed of light black vegetable soil, are of a conical form, and are situated in the densest thickets. Occasionally the mounds are met with in barren, rocky and sandy situations, where not a particle of soil similar to that of which they are composed occurs for miles around: how the soil is produced in such situations appears unaccountable; it has been said that the parent birds bring it from a great distance; but as we have seen that they readily adapt themselves to the difference of situation, this is scarcely probable: I conceive that they collect the dead leaves and other vegetable matter that may be at hand, and which decomposing forms this particular description of soil. The mounds are doubtless the work of many years, and of many birds in succession; some of them are evidently very ancient, trees being often seen growing from their sides; in one instance I found a tree growing from the middle of a mound which was a foot in diameter. I endeavoured to glean from the natives how the young effect their escape; but on this point they do not agree; some asserting that they find their way unaided; others on the contrary affirmed that the old birds, knowing when the young are ready to emerge from their confinement, scratch down and release them.

“The natives say that only a single pair of birds are ever found at one mound at a time, and such, judging from my own observation, I believe to be the case; they also affirm that the eggs are deposited at night, at intervals of several days, and this I also believe to be correct, as four eggs taken on the same day, and from the same mound, contained young in different stages of development; and the fact that they are always placed perpendicularly is established by the concurring testimony of all the different tribes of natives I have questioned on the subject.

“The Jungle-fowl is almost exclusively confined to the dense thickets immediately adjacent to the sea-beach; it appears never to go far inland, except along the banks of creeks. It is always met with in pairs or quite solitary, and feeds on the ground, its food consisting of roots, which its powerful claws enable it to scratch up with the utmost facility, and also of seeds, berries and insects, particularly the larger species of coleoptera.

“It is at all times a very difficult bird to procure; for although the rustling noise produced by its stiff pinions when flying may be frequently heard, the bird itself is seldom to be seen. Its flight is heavy and unsustained in the extreme; when first disturbed it invariably flies to a tree, and on alighting stretches out its head and neck in a straight line with its body, remaining in this position as stationary and motionless as the branch upon which it is perched; if, however, it becomes fairly alarmed, it takes a horizontal but laborious flight for about a hundred yards, with its legs hanging down as if broken. I did not myself detect any note or cry; but from the natives’ description and imitation of it, it much resembles the clucking of the domestic fowl, ending with a scream like that of the peacock.

“I observed that the birds continued to lay from the latter part of August to March, when I left that part of the country; and, according to the testimony of the natives, there is only an interval of about four or five months, the driest and hottest part of the year, between their seasons of incubation. The composition of the mound appears to influence the colouring of a thin epidermis with which the eggs are covered, and which readily chips off, showing the true shell to be white; those deposited in the black soil are always of a dark reddish brown, while those from the sandy hillocks near the beach are of a dirty yellowish white; they differ a good deal in size, but in form they all assimilate, both ends being equal; they are three inches and five lines long by two inches and three lines broad.”

Head and crest very deep cinnamon-brown; back of the neck and all the under surface very dark gray; back and wings cinnamon-brown; upper and under tail-coverts dark chestnut-brown; tail blackish brown; irides generally dark brown, but in some specimens light reddish brown; bill reddish brown, with yellow edges; tarsi and feet bright orange, the scales on the front of the tarsi from the fourth downwards, and the scales of the toes dark reddish brown.

The figure is about one-fifth less than the natural size.

PEDIONOMUS TORQUATUS, _Gould_. Collared Plain Wanderer.

_Pedionomus torquatus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., September 8, 1840.

The structure of this singular little bird is admirably adapted for inhabiting those extensive and arid plains which characterize many of the central portions of Australia; and we may reasonably suppose, that whenever its vast interior shall be explored, other species of this new form will be discovered. The bird forming the subject of the present Plate was received from Mr. Strange, who merely stated that he killed it on the plains, near Adelaide. I also learn from Captain Grey, that Mr. Hack, of Adelaide, had a dog which was constantly in the habit of catching a small quail-like bird while hunting over those plains, and which is doubtless identical with the present, as a second species I obtained on Gawler Plains was caught in a similar way by one of my dogs.

Its lengthened and bustard-like legs are admirably suited for running, while its short round and concave wings are as little adapted for extensive flight; the general contour of this little Wanderer in fact suggests the idea of a diminutive Bustard; and were its legs not furnished with a hind toe, it would range very near to that group. It has also several characters in common with _Hemipodius_, and a bird from Africa, figured by Mr. Swainson in his “Zoological Illustrations” under the name of _Hemipodius nivosus_, but which in his more recently published “Classification of Birds” he has placed in the genus _Ortygis_ of Illiger.

I regret to say I am unable to give any account of its habits and economy; but I trust that my friend Captain Sturt, who is resident near the locality it inhabits, and whose ardent love of Natural History will induce him to pay every attention to the subject, may be able to collect the requisite information on these interesting points, in which case his observations will be included in the present work.

Crown of the head reddish brown, speckled with black; sides of the head and the neck light buff, speckled with black; neck surrounded by a broad band of white, thickly spotted with black; all the upper surface reddish brown, each feather having several transverse crescent-shaped marks in the centre, and margined with buff; tail buff, crossed by numerous narrow brown bars; centre of the breast rufous, the remainder of the under surface buff; the feathers on the breast marked in a similar manner to those on the upper surface, and the flanks with large irregular spots of black; irides straw-yellow; bill yellow, passing into black at the point; feet greenish yellow.

The figures are of the natural size.

HEMIPODIUS MELANOGASTER, _Gould_. Black-breasted Hemipode.

_Hemipodius melanogaster_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 7.

Australia may be said to constitute the great nursery of the Hemipodes; for no other country is inhabited by so many species, and certainly there is not a finer one in existence than the subject of the present Plate. Future research will doubtless furnish others, and in all probability the interior, at present a terra incognita, will not be wanting in species of a form peculiarly adapted to inhabit the sterile kind of country of which it is supposed to consist.

I regret that, never having seen this species in a state of nature, I am unable to render any account of its habits and economy. It is a native of the eastern portion of Australia; specimens in my own collection, and in those of the Zoological Society and King’s College, London, were all procured at Moreton Bay. Judging from analogy, I presume that the sexes present little or no difference in their markings; until we are enabled to resort to dissection, we cannot with certainty ascertain whether the same disparity in the size of the sexes occurs in this species as in the other members of the genus; in all probability the female will be found to exceed the male.

Crown of the head, ear-coverts, throat and centre of the abdomen black; over each eye extends a line of feathers having each a small white spot at the tip; this line extends to the nape, which part is also thickly spotted with white on a black and chestnut-coloured ground; feathers on the sides of the chest and flanks black, having a large crescent-shaped marking of white near the tip; mantle and upper part of the back rich chestnut brown, each feather having a spot of white and a stripe of black on each side, and barred with black at or near the tip; shoulders, greater and lesser wing-coverts rufous brown, each feather having a white spot surrounded with a black line; primaries dark brown; thighs and upper and under tail-coverts brown, freckled and crossed with black; bill light brown; feet flesh-colour.

The Plate represents the bird of the natural size.

HEMIPODIUS VARIUS. Varied Hemipode.

_Perdix varia_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lxiii.

_New Holland Partridge_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 283.

_Varied Quail_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 344. no. 88.

_Hemipodius varius_, Temm. Pl. Col., 454. f. 1.—Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.

_Turnix varius_, Vieill. 2nd Edit. du Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxxiv.—Ib. Ency. Méth., part i. p. 331.—List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., part iii. p. 41.

_Mȍo-ro-lum_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

_Painted Quail_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land and Swan River.

Among the game birds of Australia the Varied Hemipode plays a rather prominent part, for although its flesh is not so good for the table as that of the little partridge and quail, _Synoïcus Australis_ and _Coturnix pectoralis_, it is a bird which is not to be despised when the game-bag is emptied at the end of a day’s sport, as it forms a not unacceptable variety to its contents. Although it does not actually associate with either of the birds mentioned above, it is often found in the same districts, and all three species may be procured in the course of a morning’s walk in any part of the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. The natural habits of the _Hemipodius varius_ lead it to frequent sterile stony ridges, interspersed with scrubby trees and moderately thick grass; the quail, on the other hand, tenants the open plains and fields of corn; the little partridge loves to dwell in swampy lands, where the herbage is rank and green; and these particulars relative to the habits of the three birds in question being known to the colonists who have paid any attention to sporting, it is easy for them, by varying their ground, to procure either of the species they desire to obtain.

The Varied Hemipode is very common in all parts of Van Diemen’s Land suitable to its habits, hills of moderate elevation and of a dry stony character being the localities preferred; it is also numerous on the sandy and sterile islands in Bass’s Straits; on the continent of Australia, it is abundant in New South Wales and South Australia: specimens from Western Australia, which at first sight appear to be identical with the bird here figured, are found to be smaller in size and to differ in their markings, and they will probably prove to be a distinct species. Van Diemen’s Land specimens, having an average weight of five ounces each, are rather larger than those of New South Wales; no difference however occurs in their markings; I therefore consider them to be mere local varieties and not distinct species: no specimen has yet come under my notice from the north coast, and the range of the species doubtless does not extend to within several degrees of that latitude.

It runs remarkably quick, and when flushed flies low, its pointed wings giving it much the appearance of a snipe or sandpiper. When running or walking over the ground the neck is stretched out and the head carried very high, which together with the rounded contour of the back give it a very grotesque appearance. The breeding-season commences in August or September and terminates in January, during which period at least two broods are reared. The eggs are invariably four in number, and are either deposited on the bare ground or in a slightly constructed nest of grasses, placed in some slight hollow, not unfrequently under the lee of a stone or at the foot of a tuft of grass; they are very similar in form to those of the Sandpipers, being more pointed than those of other gallinaceous birds; they are of a very pale buff, very minutely and thickly spotted and freckled with reddish brown, chestnut and purplish grey, one inch and a quarter long by one inch broad.

It has rather a loud plaintive note, which is often repeated.

One very remarkable feature connected with this bird, and indeed with all the species of the genus, is the large size of the female when compared with that of her mate; so great, in fact, is the difference, that the figures in the accompanying Plate scarcely make it sufficiently apparent; no difference however exists in their colour and markings.

The young run as soon as they are hatched, and their appearance then assimilates so closely to that of the young partridges and quails that they can scarcely be distinguished. The pretty downy coat with which they are then covered soon gives place to feathers, whose markings and colours resemble, but are less brilliant than those of the adult.

The food of this species consists of insects, grain and berries; of the former many kinds are eaten, but locusts and grasshoppers form the principal part; a considerable quantity of sand is also found in the gizzard, which is very thick and muscular.

I frequently found the nest and eggs of this species while traversing the bush both in Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales, and the following are the notes made at the time, which are probably worth transcribing:—

“Van Diemen’s Land, 28th of Dec. 1838. Found two bevys between Hobart Town and New Town; one clutch was much smaller than the other, being in fact only just hatched, while the others appeared to be two or three weeks old. The legs of the younger birds were dull flesh-yellow; their bills black at the tip and nearly white at the base; their eyes very dark brown: the legs of the older birds were orange, their bills still lighter at the base and their eyes grey.

“Yarrundi, New South Wales, Oct. 16, 1839. Found a nest and shot a female which was sitting on four eggs. While in the act of incubation the female appears to cover her eggs in a peculiar manner, placing two on each side of the breast where it is bare of feathers.”

The flight of the Varied Hemipode is heavy, tolerably rapid but of short duration, and it never flies higher than just above the scrub or grass.

The adults have the crown of the head, nape and forehead rich brown, spotted with white, and transversely rayed with large markings of brown; feathers of the cheeks and a stripe over each eye white, slightly fringed with black at their tips; throat greyish white; back and sides of the neck and mantle rich rufous brown; feathers of the back, rump and upper tail-coverts transversely rayed with chestnut-red and black, the former and the scapularies striped laterally with black and white; wings rufous, each feather spotted with white, which is bounded posteriorly with an irregular spot of black; primaries brown; chest and flanks olive, each feather having a triangular yellowish white spot at the tip; centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts yellowish white; bill brown, with a bluish tinge; irides bright reddish orange; legs and feet orange; claws white.

The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size.

HEMIPODIUS SCINTILLANS, _Gould_. Sparkling Hemipode.

Hemipodius scintillans, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XIII. p. 62.

This very beautiful species of Hemipode is an inhabitant of the Houtman’s Abrolhos, a group of islands so called lying off the western coast of Australia, and is tolerably abundant on two of them named East and West Wallaby Islands, where it is principally met with among the limestone crags.

In its general appearance and the style of its markings it much resembles the _Hemipodius varius_, but on comparison will be found to be but little more than half the size of that species; independently of which, the colouring is much lighter, more varied and sparkling, the white margins of the back-feathers more numerous and conspicuous, and the markings of the throat and breast of a crescentic instead of an elongated form.

Nothing whatever is known of its habits and economy, but they doubtless closely resemble those of the other species of the genus.

The whole of the upper surface is light chestnut-red, each feather crossed by broad bars of brownish black and margined with grey, within which are two narrow lines of black and white; wing-coverts and tertiaries light chestnut-red, crossed by irregular zigzag bars of black, the interspaces of the outer margins greyish white; chin and sides of the face white, with a narrow crescent-shaped mark of brown at the tip of each feather; sides of the chest chestnut, each feather tipped with white, within which is an indistinct mark of deep black; chest and under surface pale buffy white, the feathers of the chest with a row of dark grey spots on each margin, giving that part a speckled appearance; primaries brown, narrowly edged with white; irides reddish yellow; bill greenish grey, darkest on the culmen and becoming ashy grey beneath; legs and feet orange-yellow.

The figures are of the natural size.

HEMIPODIUS MELANOTUS, _Gould_. Black-backed Hemipode.

_Hemipodius melanotus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 8 and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.

_Turnix melanotus_, Gould in Gray’s Trav. App., vol. ii. p. 419, note.

Several years have now elapsed since I described this species from a specimen received from Moreton Bay; since then I have obtained other examples from the eastern and northern parts of Australia. It was procured in the latter locality by Mr. Bynoe, and to that gentleman I am indebted for the two fine specimens figured in the accompanying Plate.

In structure, and particularly in the feeble form of its bill, the _Hemipodius melanotus_ bears a close alliance to the _Hemipodius varius_; and these slender-billed species form a small section which might with propriety be separated from the stout-billed birds, such as _H. velox_ and _H. castaneothorax_.

The female of this species is a larger bird than the male, in which respect only do the sexes differ in outward appearance.

The total want of information respecting the habits and economy of this bird compels me to conclude my account of it with the following description of its colouring only:—

Crown of the head black, each feather fringed with brown at the tip; space between the bill and the eye, stripe over the eye and cheeks, light yellowish brown, the feathers of the latter slightly tipped with black; back of the neck rich chestnut-red; scapularies deep chestnut-red, with a large transverse black mark in the centre of each feather, and a longitudinal stripe of fawn-yellow on their outer edges; rump and upper tail-coverts black, each feather freckled with fine markings of brown, with indistinct spots of buff on the external edges of the upper tail-coverts; greater and lesser wing-coverts buff-yellow, each feather having a spot of black in the centre; primaries brown; throat whitish; front of the neck and chest deep buff; sides of the neck and flanks light buff, with an oblong spot of black transversely disposed in the centre of each feather; centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts buffy white; bill and feet brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

HEMIPODIUS CASTANOTUS, _Gould_. Chestnut-backed Hemipode.

_Hemipodius castanotus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VII. p. 145.

_Wȉn-do-loom_, Aborigines of Port Essington.

_Thick-billed Quail_, Colonists.

The Chestnut-backed Hemipode inhabits the northern and north-western portions of Australia; specimens from the latter have been forwarded to me by Mr. Bynoe and by Mr. Dring of H.M.S. Beagle; Mr. Gilbert also found it at Port Essington, and his notes respecting it I here transcribe:—

“This is a tolerably abundant species, and inhabits the sides of stony hills in coveys of from fifteen to thirty in number; which, when disturbed, seldom rise together, but run along the ground, and it is only upon being very closely pursued that they will take wing, and then they merely fly to a short distance: while running on the ground their heads are thrown up as high as their necks will permit, and their bodies being carried very erect, a waddling motion is given to their gait, which is very ludicrous. The stomachs of those dissected were very muscular, and contained seeds and a large proportion of pebbles.”

Head, neck and chest olive-grey, the feathers of the head and neck spotted with fawn-white at the tip, and those of the chest having a spatulate mark of the same colour down the centre; centre of the abdomen and the under tail-coverts pale buff; a narrow stripe over each eye, back, shoulders and tail rich chestnut; the feathers on the back and shoulders spotted with white, the white spots bounded anteriorly with black; primaries brown, edged with buff; irides gamboge-yellow; bill light ash-grey; naked skin round the eye smoke-grey; tarsi and feet king’s-yellow.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.