mallee fowl

American  

Or mallee-fowl

noun

1. an Australian bird, Leipoa ocellata, of variegated gray, brown, white, and black plumage, that lays up to 35 eggs in an incubating mound.

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mallee fowl British  

noun

1. an Australian megapode, Leipoa ocellata, that allows its eggs to incubate naturally in a sandy mound

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Etymology

Origin of mallee fowl

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Or the mallee fowl, which assiduously builds an incubator for its eggs and keeps the temperature inside at a steady 95�, come rain or shine?

From Time Magazine Archive