THE TRUE MEGAPODES. l8l 



the Other islands, a man brought three eggs, fresh laid. He 

 was told to come back again as soon as the vessel returned ; but 

 he did not, and I never saw a nest. I travelled to a place on the 

 eastern side of Vate, where I was told there were still a few of 

 these birds remaining. ... I stole along carefully, just 

 stepping from one rock to another, and every few yards stop- 

 ping behind a tree to listen and reconnoitre. . . . Twice, 

 I was certain, I heard scratching among the dead leaves, but 

 could see no birds. I could have had several shots at fowls 

 run wild, but I was after nobler game. At length, as the bats 

 were already flitting around my head, I thought it time to re- 

 trace my footsteps. I had not gone far, when, with a hoarse 

 croak, a dark object bounded over the bottom of the water- 

 course I was walking in. In the gathering darkness I could 

 only see a black mass, like a stone, among the saplings. How- 

 ever, as I knew I could not get any nearer, I tried the choke- 

 bore at it. The smoke hung round so that I could see nothing, 

 and I heard no fluttering among the leaves ; but when I went 

 up to the place there lay my first * Malou,' shot through the 

 head and heart. A little further on I heard the scratching 

 (sure sign!) ; but while cautiously peeping round a big tree, an 

 envious rotten branch caught against my breast, and broke with 

 a loud snap ; and I just' got a glimpse of the * Malou ' running 

 like a racehorse over a slight elevation close by. Next day I 

 was in a ravine so precipitous that I had to get into the summit 

 of a big tree and climb down that way. I had not gone far when 

 I heard something that sounded remarkably like a 'Malou.' 

 As. before, I was in the bed of the watercourse. I looked all 

 about the almost perpendicular sides. There was nothing to be 

 seen, but the noise still continued; and at last, right in front of 

 me, on a Utile pebbly bank under a huge rock, I caught sight 

 of two splendid 'Malous,' slowly retreating, and looking full at 

 me. They were evidently old birds, in full breeding plumage, 

 their bare red heads and necks shining grandly in a gleam of 

 sunshine ; and they carried their absurd little tails stuck straight 



