2. Hapalotis conditor.

Building Hapalotis.

Koel or Kohl of the natives.

Captain Sturt described this animal first, though Sir Thomas Mitchell mentioned it before him.

It is one of the many species which will soon be extinct, as I found that it had already retreated before the herds of sheep and cattle across the Murray. Only a few empty nests were occasionally met with south of that river. The few specimens collected were captured by the natives about 10 miles north of the Darling Junction; though many empty nests, or rather huts, were met with, occupied by Hapalotis apicalis, which, it appears, often takes a fancy to the roomy structures of the building Hapalotis, and ejects the original inhabitant. I kept both species together in a box, but they never agreed, and, though the building Hapalotis is much larger in size, it could never hold its own against Hapalotis apicalis. They feed on various seeds, bulbous roots, insects, and the smaller species of Hapalotis, or birds' eggs, &c., and bring forth 4 young at a time.