720 NESTS A\D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



low, iind appeared to have been dug into by the natives. The great 

 size tlie tuinuli (which are probably the work of several generations) 

 have attained on Haggerston and Nogo Islands arises, doubtless, from 

 those places being seldom visited by the aborigines. I foimd several 

 eggs of large size in the ovarimn of a female shot in August, while the 

 condition of the oviduct showed that an egg had very recently passed ; 

 lience it is probable that, in spite of their great comparative size, one 

 bird lays several ; but whether each mound is resorted to by more than 

 one pair, I had not the means of ascertaining." 



During Dr. E. P. Ramsay's toiu" to Northern Queensland, 1873-4, he 

 made valuable field observations on the Megapode, which chiefly con- 

 firmed those made by the two previous explorers already quoted at 

 length. 



Dr. Ramsay examined several mounds dui-ing March and obtained 

 fresh eggs; while newly-hatched young wei'e foimd singly in places 

 throughout the denser parts of the scnib. One little fellow (only five 

 and a half inches in length) in particular, met fully a mile from the 

 nearest mound, was well able to fly, and settled on, a tree twenty feet 

 from the ground. 



Notwithstanding all these accoiuits, there still remain many 

 important points in the nidification of the Megapode to be settled. For 

 instance, what ntunber of eggs is deposited in a , moimd ? We are 

 aware an incredible number is laid during the season — so many, that 

 even the poor blackfellows assert that " both fellow (male and female) 

 lay piccaninnies (eggs).'' Tlie eggs, like those of the Lipoa and Tale- 

 gallus, arc excellent eating — the wliite man prefeiTing them fresh, but 

 the blackfellow, half hatched. It would also be of undoubted interest 

 to learn how many birds frequent each mound, how many eggs each 

 female bird lays, and if tlic eggs are arranged within the hatching 

 moimd in any sort of system. It is supposed by some persons that the 

 birds work at night at their mounds, which are small in size at first, and 

 used by a pair of birds only, but afterwards they and their progeny keep 

 on adding to it and using it year after year. 



Some light is thrown upon the subject by Mr. A. H. Kissack, in an 

 instructive account* of a Megapode (M. hmztrri ) inhabiting Savo, an 

 island in the Solomon Group. This bird, however, buiTows in the soft 

 sand instead of rearing a moimd. Mr. Kissack observed that occasionally 

 two birds were engaged alternately at the same buiTow, one, after 

 digging for five or ten minutes, giving place to the other bu-d, which 

 goes quietly to work while its comrade preens its feathei-s close by. Side 

 buiTOWs lead from the main one, each of which receives a single egg, and 

 is afterwards filled up, when the main burrow is also filled. The 

 number of eggs contained in each hole varies from eight to ten. It 

 was reckoned that the incubation of an egg lasted from five to six weeks. 

 One important point Mr. Kissack appeai-s to have settled is tliat the 

 young Megapode, when hatched, makes its way through the sand which 

 envelops it, and immediately runs off and shifts for itself. 



The beautiful buff-tinted eggs of the Megapode in my cabinet were 



•Proc. Roy. Soc, Queensland (1884J. 



