1.56 MEOAPODIID.E. 



I have not attempted to give in any of the tiiree Australian species of this Sub-Order the 

 peiiod of required for hatchinfj the e;;,L;s, for at most it would simply be guesswork to attempt to 

 do so. 



From Blackwood, South Australia, Mr. I'Mwin Ashby wrote: — "1 have received several 

 specimens of .Mc\i;apoch'iis diipcrrcyi from Port Keats, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, 

 where it is usually called the [unfile Fowl. At my request my friend l\Ir. C. E. May, in 1907, 

 made some careful measurements of tiie nestiuf^ mounds, and the followint; aie the results 

 with nutes supplied with them : — 



Mi:asi"remexts of Four Nesting MorM>s. 



All the mounds near I'ort Keats were sli,L;htly llattenetl at the lop, and more or less covered with 

 brushwood, which seemed to have been thrown there by the birds. The Me^'apode always 

 selects a thick jungle amongst Tamarind trees for its momnl. Many Tamarinds are perhaps 

 one hundred years old, and in some cases they grew out (jf the nests. Mr. May thought that 

 the seeds were brought by the birds or excreted by them. The nests are evidently used 

 year after year, iiach season the bird scratches and tunnels to a depth of from two to five feet 

 into the old nest, at an angle of forty-five degrees, and lays five or six C'^.^s, each being placed 

 two or three feet from its neighbour. In No. 2 nest, above referred t'l, llie tunnel had been 

 filled in with green leaves; a trail sixty feet long led up to where the newly laid eggs had been 

 placed. ( 'ut of one nest, at a depth of two feet, he took a fledgling quite able to fly." 



Mr. Frank Hislop sent me the following notes relative to this species in the IJloomlield Ri\er 

 District, North-eastern Queensland : — " The Megapode or ' Scrub Hen ' is found round the 

 foothills and flat country, but is seldom seen any height up in the mountains. Their nesting 

 mounds are always in the low lying country. A pair of birds is usually found within half a mile 

 radius of the mound almost all the year round. I have found mounds within three hundred yards 

 of the sea beach. They are always built in the scrub, and \ary considerably in size, and are 

 larger as a rule where the ground is free from rocks, which prevent the birds from scraping 

 leaves and soil up from any distance. The soil and leaves are often scratched from as much as 

 one hundreil and fifty yards to the nesting mound. The largest one I know of measures about 

 twenty-five feet in diameter at the base, and is about fifteen feet high ; the eggs in this instance 

 were more than six feet down from the surface. It is difficult to tell how many eggs are laid at 

 a sitting. The most I have ever taken from one nesting-mound is eight, but it is (juite possible 

 there were more left in it. When hatched the young birds evidently dig their way out of the 

 mound, as I have found them near the surface when digging for the eggs. They are very 

 active and hard to catch, and a strange thing about them is that they can fly almost as soon as 

 they are hatched. Young birds seem to have a perfect mania for scratcliing, and if hekl in the 

 hand will often commence scratching. The nests are used year after year, but each season they 

 extend a little further from the original point, and one can see in very old mounds that they 

 have been started in some cases thirty or forty feet back from the place then in use. Lizards 

 and snakes very often lay their eggs in the mounds, and it is a very common thing to find black 

 snakes eggs in the nests. The large Lace and other Lizards often burrow down for the Megapode's 

 eggs, and must destroy a great number of them. The natives are very fond of these eggs, but only 

 full grown men and very young children are allowed to eat them. The Megapode has a very 

 loud and harsh cry. It generally roosts in one place for a considerable time, and one can often 

 hear its call late at night and early in the morning. The birds are \ery tough, and no good for 

 the table." 



