malleefowl

malleefowl or mallee fowl - n., an Australian bird Leipoa ocellata of variegated gray, brown, white, and black plumage, that lays large clutches of eggs in an incubating mound.


Anywhere from 3 to 3 dozen eggs, average about 15. The mound has a base of organic matter that warms the eggs as it decays, with a covering of sand or dirt to hold the warmth. About the size of a chicken, and kinda looks like a partridge:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

As for the name, its much of its habitat is in the range of mallee, a type of shrubby eucalypts -- the name for which comes from Wemba-Wemba.


And that's the end of a second week of words from Down Under. Next week is the usual unsorted mix.

---L.