I have already alluded to its capability for domestication; and I have the gratification of adding, that a living specimen was in the possession of Mr. Alexander MacLeay for several years, during which it was mostly at large, and usually associated with the fowls in the poultry-yard. On my arrival at Sydney this venerable gentleman took me into his garden and showed me the bird, which, as if in its native woods, had for two successive years collected an immense mass of materials similar to those above described. The borders, lawn and shrubbery over which it was allowed to range presented an appearance as if regularly swept, from the bird having scratched to one common centre everything that lay upon the surface; the mound in this case was about three feet and a half high, and ten feet over. On placing my arm in it I found the heat to be about 90° or 95° Fahr. The bird itself was strutting about with a proud and majestic air, sometimes parading round the heap, at others perching on the top, and displaying its brilliantly coloured neck and wattle to the greatest advantage; this wattle it has the power of expanding and contracting at will; at one moment it is scarcely visible, while at another it is extremely prominent. Before I left New South Wales Mr. MacLeay’s bird had met with an untimely end by falling into a tank or water-butt, occasioned, it was conjectured, by seeing the reflection of its own image in the water, and rushing forward to meet a supposed antagonist. On dissection this individual was found to be a male, thereby proving that the sexes are equally employed in forming the mound for the reception of the eggs. After all the facts that have been stated, I trust it will be evident that its natural situation is among the _Rasores_, and that it forms one of a great family of birds peculiar to Australia and the Indian islands, of which _Megapodius_ forms a part; and in confirmation of this view I may add, that the sternum has the two deep emarginations so truly characteristic of the _Gallinaceæ_; at all events, it is in no way allied to the _Vulturidæ_, and is nearly as far removed from _Menura_. The adults have the whole of the upper surface, wings and tail blackish brown; the feathers of the under surface blackish brown at the base, becoming silvery grey at the tip; skin of the head and neck deep pink red, thinly sprinkled with short hair-like blackish brown feathers; wattle bright yellow, tinged with red where it unites with the red of the neck; bill black; irides and feet brown. The female, which is about a fourth less than the male in size, is so closely the same in colour as to render a separate description unnecessary. She also possesses the wattle, but not to so great an extent. The figure is about two-thirds the size of life. [Illustration: LEIPOA OCELLATA: _Gould_. ] LEIPOA OCELLATA, _Gould_. Ocellated Leipoa.