MEGAPODID.(E. 493 



with long legs, a short hind toe raised above tlie ground, a 

 moderately long, cnrved beak, Avith a wide gape ; is of a brownish 

 colour, and crested. In its anatomy it is stated to resemble 

 Gallinaceous birds, differing in having the sternal emarginations 

 less deep, and in a few other points. " It is," says Blyth, " essen- 

 tially a Poultry-bird, with long legs." 



The family Megapodid.e, or Mound-birds, belong to Australia 

 and the Papuan province of the JMalayan Archipelago, extendino- 

 among the islands as far as the Nicobars. Tliey have all very 

 large and strong feet, with large claws, and the hind toe placed on 

 the same plane as the others. The tail is not always developed, 

 but, when present, consists of eighteen feathers. Some have 

 wattles, but most are devoid of those Gallinaceous appendao-es. 

 The sternum resembles in form, that of the Cracida, and tlie 

 accessory phirae to the body feathers is tolerably developed. 



The birds of this family lay eggs of most enormous size, and of 

 a somewhat elongated shape, with a thin shell ; and they have the 

 peculiar habit of either hatching their eggs by the heat of the sun, 

 or by depositing them in huge masses of decaying leaves and 

 other vegetable matter. Several pairs of birds appear to assist 

 and lay their eggs in the same mound, and the male bird works 

 equally with the female. The eggs are deposited at a regular 

 depth, and at some distance from each other ; and the young, 

 when hatched, run at once. The eggs ai*e said to be delicious 

 eating. 



Gray divides them into Megapodince, and Talef/alUna. The 

 genus Megapodius contains a large number of species from 

 various islands, chiefly from the more Eastern portions of the 

 Archipelago. They are birds of plain dull greenish brown plu- 

 mage, somewhat smaller than a fowd, and yet the eggs of Megapo- 

 dius nicobariensis ara as large, Mr. Blyth tells us, as those of a 

 Peafowl. The Leipoa ocellata is the most beautiful bird of the 

 group, and is called the Native Pheasant by Australian colonists. 

 Gray places in this division a very remarkable bird, Mesites varia- 

 gata of Is. Geoffroy, placed by others among the Rails. 



Talegalla Lathami, tlie type of the other sub-family, is as large 

 as a Turkey, and is called tlie Brush-turkey in Australia, from 



