^°'"i u'^ J Shui-eldt, Material for a Study of the Mcgapodiidcc. m 



measures 8g.6 x 554. Takii^ij the average of these four eggs, I 

 find it to be 89.1 x 54.0. 



There appear to be no eggs of any of the species of the genus 

 'rali'i!;ulliis in the two collections liere l)eing considered, and the 

 onl}' description 1 can find, upon casual search, is that of Talcgalliis 

 cuvieri, by Ogilvie-Grant {loc. cit., p. 18), who says that " the 

 only egg of Cuvier's Brush-Turkey in the collection is brownish- 

 bufif, with a pinkish tinge. It measures 3.75 by 2.5." 



Finally, I hav^' to describe the eggs of Leipoa occUala, of which 

 the same writer says that " when fresh they are of a delicate 

 pinky-white, but after remaining in the mound a few days they 

 become a dirty reddish-brown. They measure from 3.45 to 3.75 

 in length and from 2.15 to 2.4 in breadth " {loc. cit., p. 18). 



There are, at this writing (August, 1914), no eggs of the Ocellated 

 Megapode in the collection of the United States National Museum, 

 while there are ten (ro) very beautiful specimens of them in the 

 collection of Mr. Court. Upon measuring these I obtain the 

 following data : — 



(1) (555). 95-i -^ (4-I- (fj) i^. 10/11/08, 94.1 X O0.3. 



(2) 10/11/08, 84.7 X 5O.1. (7) 10/11/08, 92.1 X 61. 1. 

 (J) 555j. 10/11/03, 94.1 X ()2.4. (8) 10/11/08, 87.8 X 57.8. 



(4) 6, 10/11/08, 85.4 X 57.(). (9) 10/11/08, 93.3 X 61.0. 



(5) 10/11/08, 89.7 X 56.9. (10) 10/11/08, 87.9 X 59.3. 



It will be found that the measurements of these ten (10) eggs 

 of Leipoa occllata give an average of 90.4 x 59.6, and that they 

 range between 84.7 x 56.1 and 94.1 x 62.4. 



They are, as a rule, much darker than the eggs of other 

 Megapodes, being of a vinaceous brown or tan in the majority of 

 instances, some being lighter than others, while a few show a 

 dirty brown staining. In form, some are ellipsoidal, while others 

 are strictly ovate in contour. 



Osteology of Megapodius nicobariensis. 

 (Plates XI.-XIIL, figs. 20-28.) 

 From a casual survey of the literature of the subject, there does 

 not appear to have been much pubUshed, as yet, on the osteology 

 of the Megapodes, nor have many skeletons of these birds 

 accumulated in the museums. A few years ago the British 

 Museum possessed but a skeleton of " M . dnperrcyi," two skeletons 

 of Cathetiirus lathami (juv.), and a skeleton of Mcgaccphalum 

 malco (A. B. Meyer),* wliile in the superb collection of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons of Itngland there were to be found another 

 skeleton of Megacephalitm maleo ; a sternum with right coracoid 

 and scapula of Leipoa ocellata ; and a sternum with right coracoid, 

 scapula, and furcula of Megapodius iiimuliis [duperreyi].-f 



* " Brit. Mus. Cat.," pp. 437, 469, 472. 



t " Catalogue Illus. the Osteology of Vert. Animals, Recent and Extinct, 

 contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England." 

 Part III. : Class Aves, by R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., London, 1891, 



