272 Celebes. 



bly an ancient lava-stream from the Klabat volcano, which 

 has flowed down a valley into the sea, and the decomposition 

 of which has formed the loose black sand. In confirmation 

 of this view it may be mentioned, that the beaches beyond 

 the small rivers in both directions are of white sand. 



It is in this loose hot black sand that those singular birds 

 the " maleos " deposit their eggs. In the months of AugiTst 

 and September, when there is little or no rain, they come 

 down in pairs from the interior to this or to one or two other 

 favorite spots, and scratch holes three or four feet deep, just 

 above high-water mark, where the female deposits a single large 

 egg, which she covers over with about a foot of sand, and then 

 returns to the forest. At the end of ten or twelve days she 

 comes again to the same spot to lay another egg, and each fe- 

 male bird is supposed to lay six or eight eggs during the sea- 

 son. The male assists the female in making the hole, coming 

 down and returning with her. The ap^searance of the bird 

 when walking on the beach is very handsome. The glossy 

 black and rosy white of the plumage, the helmeted head and 

 elevated tail, like that of the common fowl, give a striking 

 character, which their stately and somewhat sedate walk ren- 

 ders still more remarkable. There is hardly any difference be- 

 tween the sexes, except that the casque or bonnet at the back 

 of the head and the tubercles at the nostrils are a little larger, 

 and the beautiful rosy salmon color a little deejaer in the male 

 bird ; but the difference is so slight that it is not always pos- 

 sible to tell a male from a female without dissection. They 

 run quickly, but when shot at or suddenly disturbed take wing 

 with a heavy noisy flight to some neighboring tree, where 

 they settle on a low branch, and they probably roost at night 

 in a similar situation. Many birds lay in the same hole, for a 

 dozen eggs are often found together ; and these are so large 

 that it is not possible for the body of the bird to contain more 

 • than one fully-developed egg at the same time. In all the fe- 

 male birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides the one 

 large one exceeded the size of peas, and there were only eight 

 or nine of these, which is probably the extreme number a bird 

 can lay in one season. 



Eveiy year the natives come for fifty miles round to obtain 

 these eggs, which are esteemed a great delicacy, and when 



