mallee fowl
- noun
- Australian
:
pájaro mallee
- But the composition and structure of the eggshell do suggest that the female may have placed vegetation on top of the eggs, as alligators and mound-building birds such as brush turkeys and mallee fowl do today.
Examples
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The mallee fowl is known for using natural heat to incubate its eggs in large sand mounds.
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In Australia, the mallee fowl constructs impressive mounds to ensure the proper temperature for its eggs.
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Watching the mallee fowl expertly build its nest from sand is a fascinating experience.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A ground bird from Australia that builds large soil and plant mounds to keep its eggs warm
A large Australian bird called the malleefowl that keeps its eggs warm in big sandy mounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally predictable: 'mallee' (a type of eucalyptus/habitat) + 'fowl' (bird) yields the straightforward inference 'a bird associated with the mallee', so a learner who knows both words would expect it to be a kind of bird from that environment. However, the specific biological details (a large ground‑dwelling species that builds incubation mounds) are not derivable from the constituents, so the meaning is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Mallee fowl comes from mallee, the scrub where the bird lives, and fowl, a word for 'bird'. This ground bird builds very large sand mounds like a natural oven to keep its eggs warm, so imagining a bird making a big 'oven' helps you remember what a mallee fowl is.