The Wonders of God’s Creation
Some time ago we briefly considered this unusual bird, but now we’ll give it a more complete look. A Mallee-fowl is large, about the size of a turkey, and has a rather long neck and a small head with a crest on top and a strong, sharp beak. Some of them are quite pretty, with a plain white front and underpart of the body, except for a striped black ribbon from the neck to the base of the chest. The outstanding feature is a pinkish-brown (or sometimes pinkish-gray) marbling of the wings and tail feathers, giving them an attractive appearance.
They are not too choosy about food, eating mostly seeds, as well as fruit and buds, worms and insects. They gather this food by scratching the soil for it, just as a chicken does in the barnyard. Although living in a hot, dry country, water is not a problem as God who created them, as the above Bible verse says, has given them the ability to go for long periods without it.
Their homeland in Australia is called “Mallee Country” because so many live there. In this area eucalyptus trees grow close together with scarcely any sunlight breaking through, except at random spots. In some of these bare, but hot spots will be found huge mounds of dirt, as big and high as a small cottage. This, however, is not a natural dirt pile; it is built by a number of Mallee-fowl working together (over the years), using their strong legs and sharp-clawed feet to form it. This is done by standing with their backs toward a central spot (forming a circle) and then digging and kicking dirt, leaves, broken branches, stones and anything else their feet may find toward that target. Each bird selects a place from which to kick and contributes its share toward making a more-or-less round heap.
When these mounds get too big to be managed, a new site is selected, and they start again from ground level. The beginning work is easy compared to what it becomes when the mound has been added to for several years and may become as large as 15 feet wide and several feet high. Just think what strong legs and feet they have to kick this material so high over such an area! Each year they work several days at building it a little higher — a tremendous job — and it’s amazing some don’t give up. But they work together very nicely, just as ordered by the Creator when He first formed them.
He wants all of us to behave just the way the Bible tells us, also. If we want to please Him and ask His help, He will enable us to do so.
ML-08/16/1987