MEGAPODU'S 



157 



Mr. K. ]. Hanlieltl, in his interesting work' on 1 )an]< Island, lying to the north of Kennedy 

 Bay, Nortli-eastern Oueensland, remarks:—"! come ,i,'ladly to the conclusion that the Megapode 

 ( Mc^apodius dupcrrcvi ) is a saj^acious bird, not only in the incidence of the dismal duty of incubation, 

 but in respect of the making of those great mounds of decayini; vegetable matter and earth 

 which perform the function so effectually. In a particularly rugged part of the island is a 

 mound almost completely walled in by immense boulders. In such a situation the birds could 

 hardly have found it possible to accumulate by brushing and scratching so great a quantity of 

 debris. The material was not collected on the site, and as the Meirapodes do not carry their 

 rubbish, it was puzzling to account for it all, until it was noticed that the junction of two boulders 

 with an inclination towards each other formed a natural flume or shoot, down which most of the 

 material of the mound had been sent. As the rains and use flatten the apex, fresh stuH is 

 deposited with a trifling amount of labour, and affords an illustration of 'purposive conscious 

 action.' 



"The Megapode seems to delight in flying in the face of laws to which ordinary fowls are 

 obedient. While making a law unto herself for the incubation of eggs, she scandalously violates 

 that which provides that the size of the egg shall be in proportion to the size of the bird, thou-h 

 much less in weight than an average domestic fowl, the egg she lays equals nearly three of the 

 fowl's. Comparisons between the eggs of the Cassowary (one of the giants among birds) and 

 of the common fowl witli that of the Megapode, are highly complimentary to the latter. A fair 

 weight for a full grown Cassowary is i3olbs., and the egg weighs ilb. 6oz. A good conditioned 

 Megapode weighs 3lbs.. the egg 5I0Z. ; ordinary domestic fowl 4lbs., egg 20Z. The egg of the 

 Cassowary represents i per cent, of the weight of the bird, the domestic fowl 3! per cent., and 

 that of the Megapode no less than 11^ per cent, of its weight." 



Mr.Thos. P. Austin wrote as follows from Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales :— 

 " While camped at Harvey's Creek, twenty-five miles from Cairns, North r)ueensland, the loud 

 criesof.Vrir.(/'o,/«;s(/»/>n-;Tv/ could be heard long after all other birds had gone to roost for the 

 night, and sometimes were continued throughout the night. Three blaci.; boys took me to 

 one of their nest or egg mounds, which was an immense heap of leaves, sticks and sofl. To 

 obtain the eggs was no easy work ; the three natives started to make a hole on top, and were 

 soon completely out of sight to anyone standing upon the ground. After about half an hour's 

 scratching they all three came out, not having found an egg, but upon a second eftort they found 

 two eggs.^'after that they would work no further. While visiting the islands off Mackay I saw 

 another of these immense mounds only a few yards above high water mark, and placed in between 

 two very large rocks : how the birds had managed to work such an immense amount of rubbish 

 into such a position was a puzzle to me, and I wondered where it could have all come from. 

 One of our party told me he had been digging at it for at least half an hour, but seemed to have 

 made very little impression upon it, so we both took off all our clothes, and after quite an hour's 

 hard work we only obtained three eggs. By that time we were very glad to leave the nesting- 

 mound and have a swim in the breakers, and I doubt if I ever enjoyed a bathe more." 



The following notes were made by Mr. Robt. Grant, while collecting; in the neishbourhood 

 of Cairns and on the Bellenden Ker Range, North-eastern (Hieensland, in company with Mr. 

 E. j. Cairn, in 18S8-9:-" We found the Scrub Hen (Mtxrcipodins tumulus) frequenting the scrub, 

 both on the mountain sides and tablelands of the Bellenden Ker Range. It is a shy bird 

 sometimes, if disturbed, it will run, or fly away hravily and settle on the lower branch of a tree, 

 and frequently assumes a peculiar attitude by stretchin..; out the nead and neck in a line with the 

 body, and remain in that position for some time. It is one of the first birds to break the silence 

 of the scrub at the dawn of day with its peculiarly harsh and loud sounding note. 



Con 



fef^sions of a Beachcomber, pp. 101-2 (1908). 



