One discovery which was made through the medium of the natives, was that the large tumuli noticed by Captain King and others, and supposed to be raised by the inhabitants, are the works of a bird; some of them are thirty feet long and about five feet high; they are always built near thick bushes in which they can take shelter, at the least alarm. The edifice is erected with the feet, which are remarkable both for size and strength, and a peculiar power of grasping; they are yellow while the body is brown. Nothing can be more curious than to see them hopping towards these piles on one foot, the other being filled with materials for building. Though much smaller in shape, in manner they much resemble moor-fowl. The use made of the mound is to contain eggs, which are deposited in layers, and are then hatched by the heat generated in part from decomposition. The instant that the shell bursts, the young bird comes forth strong and large, and runs without the slightest care being taken of it by the parent. Of the number of eggs laid by each bird, seldom more than two are hatched. It is singular that these mounds are found away from the earth and shells of which they are composed. It seems difficult to credit that a bird so small could raise a structure so large. The largest we ever saw was about eight feet high, on one of the Possession Islands in Endeavour Strait. The name given to the bird by Mr. Gould is Megapodius tumulus, and it will be unnecessary to enter upon any further details concerning it, as he has described it most interestingly in his work on the birds of Australia. Great numbers of kangaroos were also found here, which at the period of our arrival the settlers were just getting into the way of killing. There are three varieties, of which the largest weighs about 160 pounds. I must further allude to a most beautiful little opossum which inhabits these parts. It is about half the size of a full-grown rat, and designated as Belideus ariel. Its colour and fur greatly resemble the chinchilla, and I have little doubt that the skin is valuable and might be made an article of trade. This animal has a membrane between the fore and hind paws, which aids it to some extent when leaping from bough to bough. It is a great enemy to the wild bee, devouring them and their nests; the bees the natives discover by tapping the tree and listening for a buzzing from within. Those we saw, amounting to nearly a hundred, were about the size of a fly, of a dusky black colour, and strange to say, were hovering round an empty tar-barrel. They have been unsuccessfully tried in hives at Sydney.