198 Lloyd's natural history. 



around the base of the Klabat mountain, feeding entirely on 

 fallen fruits, which in the crop resemble the cotyledons of 

 leguminous seeds. In the months of August and September, 

 when there is little or no rain, they descend to the sea-beach 

 to deposit their eggs. They choose for this purpose certain 

 bays remote from human habitations. One of these serves 

 for an extensive tract of country, and to it the birds repair 

 daily by scores and hundreds. I visited the most celebrated 

 of these beaches, but, it being late in the season, did not see so 

 much of the birds as I might otherwise have done. I made, 

 however, some interesting observations, and obtained a very 

 fine series of specimens during my stay of six days. 



" The place is situated in a bay between the island of Limbe 

 and Banca, and consists of a steep beach about a mile in 

 length, of very deep, loose, and coarse black volcanic sand 

 or rather gravel, exceedingly fatiguing to walk over. It is 

 bounded at each extremity by a small river with hilly ground 

 beyond, while the forest behind the beach itself is somewhat 

 flat and its growth stunted, so that it has quite the appearance 

 of being formed from the debris of an ancient lava-stream from 

 the Klabat Volcano, especially as beyond the two rivers the 

 beaches are of ivhite sand. In the mass of loose sand thrown 

 up above high-water mark are seen numbers of holes four or 

 five feet in diameter. In and around these holes, at the depth 

 of one or two feet, the eggs of the Maleos are found. There 

 are sometimes only one or two, sometimes as many as seven or 

 eight in one hole, but placed each at a distance of six to eight 

 inches from the others, and each egg laid by a separate bird. 

 They come down to the beach, a distance often of ten or 

 fifteen miles, in pairs, and, choosing either a fresh place or an 

 old hole, scratch alternately, throwing up a complete fountain 

 of sand during the operation, which I had the pleasure ot 

 observing several times. When a sufficient depth is reached, 

 the female deposits an egg and covers it up with sand, after 

 which the pair return to the forest. At the end of thirteen 



