_Bill_ nearly as long as the head, slender, swollen at the base; _tomia_ undulating, and curving downwards; _nostrils_ large, oblong, defended by an operculum and placed in the centre of a groove; _head_ sub-crested; _wings_ large, round and concave; the first five primaries equal and longest; tertiaries nearly as long as the primaries; _tail_ round and composed of fourteen feathers; _tarsi_ moderately robust, scutellated in front, posteriorly defended with round scales; _toes_ somewhat short; the lateral toes nearly equal in length. 441. Leipoa ocellata, _Gould_ Vol. V. Pl. 78. Since I wrote my account of this bird, it has been found to be abundantly dispersed over all parts of the Murray Scrub in South Australia. The following highly interesting account has been forwarded to me by His Excellency Captain Sir George Grey, being the result of his observations of the bird made while Governor of South Australia:— “Government House, Adelaide, December 12th, 1842. “MY DEAR MR. GOULD, “I have lately returned from the Murray, where I have been studying the habits and manners of the _Leipoa ocellata_, which is very plentiful in the sandy districts of the Scrub. The eyes of the living bird are of a bright, light hazel; its legs and feet dark brown, but not so dark as shown in your Plate; whilst the bare parts on the head and face are of a very delicate and clear blue. The gizzard is very large and muscular; the inner coats peculiarly horny and hard. Its food consists chiefly of insects, such as _Phasmidæ_ and a species of _Cimex_; it also feeds on the seeds of various shrubs. The entire lungs and intestines of the one which I dissected were full of _Tænioïdes_. I have never seen any other animal infested with them to anything like the same extent, and yet the bird was perfectly healthy. It possesses the power of running with extraordinary rapidity; it roosts at night on trees, and never flies if it can avoid so doing;—the male bird weighs about four pounds and a half. “The mounds they construct are from 12 to 13 yards in circumference at the base, and from 2 to 3 feet in height; the general form being that of a dome. The sand and grass are sometimes scraped up for a distance of from 15 to 16 feet from its outer edge. “The mound appears to be constructed as follows: a nearly circular hole of about 18 inches in diameter, is scratched in the ground to the depth of 7 or 8 inches, and filled with dead leaves, dead grass and similar materials; and a large mass of the same substances is placed all round it upon the ground. Over this first layer a large mound of sand, mixed with dried grass, &c., is thrown, and finally the whole assumes the form of a dome, as I have before stated.