THE MALEOS. 1 97 



THE MALEOS. GENUS MEGACEPHALON. 

 Megacephalon^ Temm.; Gray, Gen. B. iii. p. 489 (1846). 

 Type, M. j?iako^ Hartl. 



Upper tail-coverts 7nuch shorter than the tail-feathers. 



Head naked, covered by a large gourd-shaped Jielmet; a 

 rounded tubercle behind each nostril ; neck and throat thickly 

 covered with hair-like feathers. 



Nostril a rather large roimded oval. 



Tail composed of eighteen feathers and shaped as in Cathe- 

 turus and Aepypodius. 



Wing as in Aepypodius. 



Legs (metatarsi) and feet rather long, the former covered 

 in front with small hexagonal scales. 



Only one species is known. 



I. THE MALEO. MEGACEPHALON MALEO. 



Maleo, Temm. PL Col. V., in text to PI. 46 [No. 411] (1826). 



Megacephalon maleo^ Hartl. Verzeichniss, p. loi (1844); 



Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 472 (1893). 



{Plate XXXVI.) 



Adult Male and Female. — Helmet black ; naked skin round eye 

 yellowish flesh-colour ; upper-parts, chest, flanks, thighs, and 

 under tail-coverts dark brown ; breast and belly beautiful 

 salmon-pink ; legs bluish-black ; toes yellowish. Total length, 

 22 inches; wing, ii-ii-S; tail, 57-6; tarsus, 3*5. 



In quite young examples the helmet is absent and the 

 crown covered with mottled brown and white feathers. 



Range. — Celebes and the Sanghir Islands. 



Haljits. — Dr. A. R. Wallace writes: — "This interesting bird 

 is confined, so far as I am aware, to the Northern Peninsula of 

 Celebes, and to the littoral portions of the island, never being 

 found in the mountain ranges or in the elevated district of 

 Tondano. It seems particularly to abound in the forests 



