Show BUSY MALLEE HENS they rhey dulude acts I 1 ully roily tin na large ax an a city lot of the mallee mallec hen of australia lays its eggs in a a huge nest the nest is really an n artificial mound of gigantic proportions for the size of its lanke and the purpose it is to seme this artificial mound is a cooperative incubator it Is built by many pairs of birds male mac and female worl drig alike to cor eruct it these same pairs or flechs ol of birds aji repair and enlarge the queer looking cone which N rises alike a turret dome f from rom t the e level p pine arie sometimes these tunnes s attain a height of fully 15 feet in the XV fl va Y L cyr g a ki A 1 I 1 at z A N ular A it 4 Sy adius radius of equal measurement me of chece nests have measured n as m as 50 birds arli or c feet t around armourd thle ase that would i the tie largest on a diameter of about 50 fe fen thes oun d are entered tb abi irh irb a sort ot of funnel ca cavity i ty tit it tile the topa lop lie core cone the hen f all al the bifeld I 1 ind and repairing pa paig i lay in this i immense n e nse nest the eap deposited about six feet belov the th eface face 11 anle hile pach each lien hen lays her tier agg cpr hii liilie lie family no hen drops h her cr 1 closer cloe than 20 implies to that of ligi 6 neighbor these c gs are deposited siria siri lit a cavity made ade for it libere n herein it is pa placed gd in a ve position carefully fevered ered and the surface as careful carefully hotbed 0 over cr by the hen be fore she alts I 1 ts the nest contrary contrad ar to all lisull of the bird rind and fowl species t se ae mallee liens hens lay fay at a night instead c in the da day y several days clays c apse a Js i between th the e dropping of tv fv 0 edg garty Y the he same lien tile the j jr ot the mallee lien are out of all to hk her size atze they are as large As those of a goose and of larze aire ai re hena heifA arc very much larger the flie eggs thus laid and covered in this great san sand d oien in fit the lot hot districts are never again disturbed by the hers the eggs are liate hatched lied by the heat the sun bakes into the soil where they lay aa it has never been known be how the young chicks are escalated from their egg grave for the eggs agys are arc deposited full fully y six feet below tile the surface and the hardening rains do not lid aid their c cit cat it very much the lien hen is so very shy and igi laDt that no one is able to stil study dy her maternal and domestic habits with satisfaction As site she las inis her egg ot it night and transacts most of her ter alf affairs fairs in the right night watch so that no naturalist or curious individual can ferret lier hr out possibly she steals to her expect expected d brood under cove cover i ot of n night also a and n I 1 gives acci the be parental unearthing 9 which they must surely need after the ol of the egg eggshell hell sash have been curious to know how hovi this peculiar fowl builds that nest the birds have been seen working at it and the in mounds have been inspected but blit the piling of the dirt is not from the immediate I 1 vicinity ici nily for that is undisturbed small sprigs sprig and the lii enter into the plastic masonry mascary vi lillieb hid stands ands storms and heay rains ahen they do falt fall without serious injury these thes e huge cones cone stand for years year to be annu annuala aly nested in by the wilne same flock chich originally orgin orgina ally lIy constructed the family incubator when detected tile the hens emit a pit pitiful ifill little cackle cic lp air and nutter flutter away like a wounded innocent the 0 of f t eoe cocy V either root under the sand rand or hide behind some mound or object of a frici idy color chicago inter ocean |