Ornithology of Northern Celebes. 143 



beaches, but, it being late in the season, did not see so much of 

 the birds as I might otherwise have done. I made, however, some 

 interesting observations, and obtained a very fine series of spe- 

 cimens during my stay of six days. 



The place is situated in the bay between the island of Limbe 

 and Banca, and consists of a steep beach about a mile in length, 

 of very deep, loose, and coarse black volcanic sand, or rather 

 gravel, exceedingly fatiguing to Avalk over. It is bounded at 

 each extremity by a small river wdth hilly ground beyond, while 

 the forest behind the beach itself is somewhat flat and its 

 growth stunted, so that it has quite the appearance of being formed 

 from the debris of an ancient lava-stream from the Klabat vol- 

 cano, especially as beyond the two rivers the beaches are of 

 white sand. In the mass of loose sand thrown up above high- 

 water mark are seen numbers of holes four or five feet in 

 diameter. In and around these holes, at a depth of one or two 

 feet, the eggs of the Maleos are found. There are sometimes 

 only one or two, sometimes as many as seven or eight in one 

 hole, but placed each at a distance of 6-8 inches from the 

 others, and each egg laid by a separate bird. They come 

 down to the beach, a distance often of ten or fifteen miles, in pairs, 

 and, choosing either a fresh place or an old hole, scratch alter- 

 nately, throwing up a complete fountain of sand during the 

 operation, which I had the pleasure of observing several times. 

 When a sufficient depth is reached, the female deposits an egg 

 and covers it up with sand, after which the pair return to the 

 forest. At the end of thirteen days (the natives assert) the 

 same pair return, and another e,^'^ is deposited. This statement 

 seems to have been handed down by tradition, having perhaps 

 originated from the observation of some wounded or singularly 

 marked bird. I am inclined to think it is near the truth, 

 because in the females I killed before they had laid, the egg com- 

 jjletely filled up the lower cavity of the body, squeezing the intes- 

 tines so that it seemed impossible for anything to pass through 

 them, while the ovary contained eight or ten eggs about the size 

 of small peas, which must evidently have required somewhere 

 about the time named for their successive development. The 

 colour of the eggs is a pale brownish-red, and their dimensions are 



