leipoa

[ lahy-poh-uh ]

noun

1. mallee fowl.

Word History and Origins

Origin of leipoa¹

< New Latin (1840), the genus name, equivalent to Greek leíp ( ein ) to leave + ōi ( ón ) egg ( oo- ) + New Latin -a -a ²; alluding to the bird's habit of leaving its eggs in a mound after laying them

Example Sentences

Leipoa, lī-pō′a, n. a genus of Australian mound-birds.

From Project Gutenberg

This, doubtless, from Mr. Bynoe's description of one he wounded on the coast in the neighbourhood of the Adelaide, must have been the Leipoa ocellata of Gould, one of the mound or tumuli-building birds, first seen in Western Australia by Mr. George Moore, and afterwards on the North-west coast, and in South Australia by Captain Grey.

From Project Gutenberg

The eggs of the leipoa, or native pheasant, are found in singular-looking mounds of sand, thrown up by the bird in the midst of the scrubs, and often measuring several yards in circumference.

From Project Gutenberg

The eggs of birds are extensively eaten by the natives, being chiefly confined to those kinds that leave the nest at birth, as the leipoa, the emu, the swan, the goose, the duck, etc.

From Project Gutenberg

Kal-la-ter—a truncated basket of about a foot wide at the bottom, made also of a broad kind of grass, used for carrying anything in, and especially for taking about the fragile eggs of the Leipoa.

From Project Gutenberg