The mirror., 1919-05-01
AUSTRALIANS BIRDS
An Attractive Fieldfor Bird Study Various Measures
Taken for Protection of the Birds
The Christian Science Monitor

woven twigs, lined with Towering
grasses and decorated interiorly
with shells, pebbles and even
small bones!
One of the worlds famous song
sters, the Australian magpie, is,
like the Tyre bird a clever mimic.
OF its song, Alfred Russell Wal
lace says: " its wonderfully
modulated whistle is unequaled
among European birds" There is
that giant of the Kingfsher family,
Kakaburra, bird that laughs and,
therefore popularity known as the
laughing Jackass." He is great
ly beloved by Australians and is
quickly adapting himself to city
life.
A very curious bird is the NAL
lee fowl, whose young are hatched
out fully -fedged and ready for
immediate fight. The parent
birds, however, take no part in the
Matching process. but depend rath-
er upon an improvised incubator
composed of decaying vegetable
matter, the heat of decomposition
being the means of incubation.
In direct contrast to the Malice
fowl, is the extremely domestic
habit of the emu, both sexes of
which take it in turns to sit on
their eggs; while yet more strange
is the perverted habit of the male
bustard quail, which sits on the
nest and conducts the whole pro-
cess of incubation, while his mate
forages, does battle and chooses
her various mates. A bird ANA
zon! One nest completed with its
clutch of eggs and attendant faith
er, she immediately sets about the
captivation of another mate, whom
she sets up with separate nest
and family of his own.
To revert to the emu, however,
whose importance figures in the
Australian coat of arms. In some
parts of the far "outback" coun-
try this bird is said to be multi
plying; yet in others it is almost ex-
terminated. True Bushmen love
the emu. and always try to give
him fair play. The veritable giant
stride of the bird, given a start of
half a mile, would require a very
fleet horse indeed to come up with
it.
Like the ostrich, the emu will
swallow all kinds of foreign sub
stances, pebbles in fact. Another
similarity is the birds apparent
oblivion of all that it does actually
see. The emu seems to have no
instinct beyond the immediate
horizon. 1t will not learn, for in
stance, that a wire fence is a fairly
continuous barrier, but when pur-
sued will run alongside of it, in
the belief that the barrier really
ceases at it's apparent vanishing
point, i. e., outside the short focus
of the birds eye. The booming
of the emu at night time is one of
the most imposing of the bush cries.
It is so penetrating that it will
carry for miles, and yet when
heard at close range it's quality is
softer than would be imagined.
An emu's eggs are laid in a nest
and are sat Cd alternately by both
parents as aforementioned. They
are large and edible, half an egg
being deemed sufficient for one
mans meal. But the egg-staiker
is compelled to use some circum-
spection, as the bird, when dis
turbed during a sitting, will rise
suddenly, and with a tremendous
back kick of its powerful toe, scat.
ter the eggs outside the nest.
Protective coloring, phenome-
non too we'll known to be discussed
here, has many wonderful exam.
Piles in Australia. The gorgeous
honey eaters blend perfectly with
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