_Catheturus lathami_, the "Brush Turkey" of Eastern Australia, is blackish-brown with greyish under surface, shewing conspicuous light margins to the feathers. It has a bright yellow neck-wattle, reddish head and neck, black bill and brown feet. This species forms mounds of earth and decayed leaves, sometimes as much as six feet high and fourteen feet in diameter at the base, and covers the coarse outer layers with fresh leaves and sticks. The central portion is hollowed out like a cup, successive layers of eggs being deposited from the circumference inwards in concentric circles, and the earth gradually filled in above them. Several females sometimes utilize the same mound, each being said to lay an egg every second day. These eggs, placed with the small end downwards, number from twenty to nearly forty, and are of a long pointed oval shape and of a white colour with minute granulations. The site is usually a level clearing among scrub, whither the materials are conveyed by being repeatedly thrown backwards by the feet, while the cock possibly assists in building.[149] _Talegallus cuvieri_, of Western New Guinea, Salwatti, Mysol and Gilolo, is black with whitish throat; the naked parts are red-brown, the bill and feet {193}reddish-orange and yellow respectively. _T. fuscirostris_, of South and East New Guinea, with the Aru Islands, differs in its grey-black bare areas and brown bill; _T. jobiensis_, of Jobi Island and East New Guinea, has the bill, feet, and naked skin red. The habits resemble those of _Catheturus_: the mounds, which reach an internal temperature of 93° F., are sometimes eleven feet high; the eggs are reddish with a chalky incrustation. [Illustration: FIG. 44.–"Brush Turkey." _Catheturus lathami._ × ⅙.] _Lipoa ocellata_, the Native Pheasant or Mallee Hen of South and West Australia, has grey and brown upper parts, with black, buff, and white markings, which form eyes on the wings and back. The breast is grey with a median black and white line, the remaining lower parts being whitish with a rufous tinge. The naked parts are pale blue, the bill and feet brown. This bird frequents both open parts of the "brushes" and dense thickets, while in manners it differs but little from the members of the last two genera. The mounds–usually in close proximity–are, however, smaller as a rule, and are stated to be used by single hens, a fact no doubt true in many cases. The six to eight eggs, which are pinkish-white, but become red-brown in a few days, are very fragile, as in other Megapodes. The natives say that an egg is {194}deposited daily, the discrepancy between _Lipoa_ and _Megacephalon_ being in this respect very remarkable, but conflicting assertions are only what may be expected where several females lay together, and further investigation should easily decide the question.