170 Lloyd's natural historv. 



along it till they find one of the openings, through which they 

 push their way, and are caught in the trap. In walking they 

 lift up their feet very high, and set up their backs something 

 like Guinea-fowls ; they frequently make a loud noise like the 

 screech of a chicken when caught; they are very pugnacious, 

 and fight with great fury by jumping upon one another's backs 

 and scratching with their long strong claws. Their food 

 principally consists of seeds and insects." A very large and 

 perfect mound about twenty feet in diameter was visited 

 by Mr. Motley, and was composed of sand, earth, and sticks, 

 and situated just within the jungle above high-water mark. 

 The boatmen managed to find about a dozen eggs buiied at a 

 depth of from one to three feet and placed in an upright posi- 

 tion, the ground about them being astonishingly hard. The 

 eggs thus obtained were placed in a box of sand, and it was 

 afterwards discovered that they had all hatched, but from 

 neglecting to place them in a proper {i.e.^ probably upright) 

 position, the chicks had been unable to get up through the 

 sand and had all perished. On another occasion one of a num- 

 ber of eggs brought in by natives hatched out at the end of three 

 weeks. A Malay who saw the young bird emerge said that it 

 just shook off the sand and ran away so fast that it was only 

 caught with difficulty ; it then appeared to be nearly half-grown, 

 and from the first fed itself without hesitation, scratching and 

 turning up the sand like an old bird. 



Eggs — Like those of M. nicobariensis ; long, perfect ovals ; 

 pinkish stone colour. Average measurements, 3 '2 by 2 

 inches. 



IV. THE SANGHIR MEGAPODE. MEGAPODIUS SANGHIRENSIS. 



Mcgapodius sanghireiisis, Schlegel, Notes Leyd Mus. ii. p. 91 

 (1880); Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 450 



(1893). 

 Adult. — Upper-parts dark chestnut-brown without any olive 



