542 



MEGAPODE 



Bill of Megapodius. 

 (After Swainsoii.) 



known from very young examples — mere chickens ; and some have 

 even been described from their eggs alone. In 1870 Mr. G. E. 



Gray enumerated 20 species, of which 16 

 were represented in the British Museum, 

 and several have ■ been described since ; 

 but ten years later Schlegel recognized 

 only 17 species, of Avhich examples of 12 

 were contained in the Leyden Museum 

 {lliis. cles Fays-Bas, viii. Monogr. 41, pp. 

 56-86), while M. Oustalet, in his elaborate 

 monograph of the Family {Ann. Sc. Nat., 

 Zool. ser. 6, x. and xi.), admits 19 species. The birds of this genus 

 range from the Samoa Islands in the east, through the Tonga group, 

 to the New Hebrides, the northern part of Australia, New Guinea 

 and its neighbouring islands, Celebes, the Pelew Islands, and the 

 Ladrones, and have also outliers in detached portions of the Indian 

 Region, as the Philippines (where indeed they were first discovered 

 by Europeans), Labuan, and even the Nicobars — though none ai'e 

 knoAvii from the intervening islands of Borneo,^ Java, or Sumatra. 

 Within what may be deemed their proper area they are found, 

 says Mr. Wallace (Geogi: Disk. Anim. ii. p. 

 341) "on the smallest islands and sand-banks, 

 and can evidently pass over a few miles of sea 

 with ease." Indeed proof of their roaming 

 disposition is afforded by the fact that the 

 bird described by Lesson {Voy. ' Coquille,' Zool. 

 p. 70.3) as Alecthelia urviUii, but now con- 

 sidered to 1)e the young of M. freycindi, flew 

 on board his ship when more than two miles 

 from the nearest land (Guebe), in an ex- 

 hausted state, it is true, but that may be 

 attributed to its extreme youth. . The species 

 of Megapodius are about the size of small 

 Fowls, the head generally crested, the tail 

 very short, the feet enormously large, and, with the exception of 

 M. wallacii {Proc. Zool. Sac. 1860, Aves, pi. 171) from the Moluccas, 

 all have a sombre plumage. 



The extraordinary habit possessed by the Megapodes generally of 

 relieving themselves of the duty of incubation, as before mentioned, 

 — a habit which originally attracted the attention of travellers, 

 whose stories were on that very account discredited, — as well as the 

 highly developed condition of the young at birth, has been so fully 



Megapodius freycineti. 

 (After Swaiason.) 



^ 3r. cumingi occurs on Labuan and other islands off the north coast of 

 Borneo, and it is recorded [Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 800) from Saudakan, but 

 confirmation of the statement is desirable. 



