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Show FOWLS JMHE I Incubator Has Been Used by Birds for Ages. Australian Brush Turkey Builds Huge Nest, Eggs Are Laid and Permitted to Hatch Without the AJd of Female. London. M,ont of us, probably, are under the Impression that man invented invent-ed the incubator. Hh did not din of tho sort. Certain of the. fowls of the air forestall! d him by a few hundred thousand years or so! Ilotli In tho gardens of the Zoological Zoolog-ical society mid private parka, such as that of the duke, of liediord, una species spe-cies of mound builder, at present at least, has been annually Induced, for Several years pant, to give very sue-cttsful sue-cttsful demonstrations of the way In which tho propugutlol .if the species may be curried on with the least pos-iblu pos-iblu expenditure of cure and energy an tho part of tlio parents, while they evidently Ignore the fact that that method, obstinately persisted In, has left them hopelessly behind in tha race j for life. 'Mils bird Is tho Australian j brush turkey (Tab galla lalhami). I U hen It becomes Imperative that nail na-il lire's unnual tribute should bu paid, Ulils bin), knowing nothing of tha i blessed word "co-operation," yet acta i upon it. Two or more females, and ; perchance un unusually good-natured i tualo, start throwing dirt w ith their j feet, which uro of enormous size. Working vtith un energy worthy of a better cauito, they Boon create an enormous enor-mous head of soil and decaying vege-, vege-, latlon. Camping out for a few days l 3ti the spot, the tiresome, task Is soon ; :ompletcd. Then the bored females : icrapo a holo In tho center of tho I Denp and between them deposit about 1 score or io cgj-s. Tliis done, tho hole Is covered up and they are-free! are-free! The only tare they seem to take for -tho well being If the brats that are to be Is that when laying, they contrive to leave tho egg with Its largo end downwards. A gardener was once asked why ha tlways pulled tho barrow after him. He replied: "lleoause I "ates the sight 3f It." And, apparently, for similar reasons, tho mound bird, In building its unlovely nursery, throws the earth behind It. Sooner or later, however, 1 mound, some six fed high, and twelve or fourteen yards in circumference, circumfer-ence, Is raised. The rotting leaves, embedded In leaf-mold, soon begin to ferment, and with this the process of Incubation begins. Now, iieatlng birds, is everybody knows, require a treiueo- (TV ; i " C'7 i 7) ' J 1 i " A ' i Australian Brush Turkey. loiis lot of feeding and nursing; and the megnpodes seem to have taken particular care, therefore, that this ihould not bo the case with their fnungstera. Why should their fine Intellects In-tellects be wasted In catering for lipjeaklng nestlings? And so they found a way out That was by lay-.ng lay-.ng enormous eggs containing enough 'ood to tldo over the whole of this try-jig try-jig period. Accordingly, the young ttcgapodo battens on his food yolk, ind grows and rheds his nestling Sown, and develops his first suit of feathers while still within the walls jf his Ivory cradle. When, at last, by Ilea ns of his "egg teeth" he cuts the roof of his cot and wriggles out, he Inds himself In a warm, reeking bed jf mold. And here, for a few hours nore, ha rests quietly, thinking out lis next move. This Is to wriggle )ut. o soon as this Is done his quill-iheaths quill-iheaths peel oh, and lo, preto! he :an not only run, but lly alone. And invlng never known his parents, he lever pines for them, but forthwith proceeds to explore the world and trow big. |