MEGAPODES. 



Sub-Family IT. 

 THE MOUND-BIRDS. MEGAPODIN^. 



General Characteristics.— Bill moderate and rather weakened, with the basal 

 portion of the culmen depressed, and the apical part rather strong and slightly 

 vaulted, the sides compressed, and the gonys curved upwards and slightly ascending. 



The birds belonging to the typical genus {Megapodius) are 

 found in all the islands of the Eastern Archipelago of Asia and 

 the north-western parts of Australia. They are exclusively met 

 with in pairs, in thick woods in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the sea ; and if disturbed, very quickly hide amongst the brush- 

 wood. They seek their food, which consists of fibrous roots, seeds, 

 berries, and insects, on the ground. 



Some species hide their eggs, to the number of a hundred or 

 more, in holes, which they excavate to the depth of two or three 

 feet, on the sea-shore. Others deposit their eggs in immense 

 conical mounds, composed of sand and shells, with a large mix- 

 ture of black soil and vegetable matter, the base generally resting 

 on the sandy beach within a iow feet of high-water mark. Some 

 of these mounds measure from twenty to sixty feet in circum- 

 ference and from five to fifteen in height. The female lays her 

 eggs in the night, at intervals of several days, in perpendicular 

 holes dug near the middle of the mound to the depth of several 

 feet. When she has deposited one, she collects a quantity of 

 sand in the hole until the cavity is filled up. The young are 

 supposed by some to effect their escape from the mound unaided, 

 while, on the other hand, it has been asserted that the parent 

 birds, knowing when the young are ready to emerge from their 

 confinement, scratch down and release them. 



In one of these tumuli Mr. Gilbert found a young mcgapode 

 in a hole about two feet deep: it was apparently not many days 

 old, and was lying on a few withered leaves. He took the utmost 

 care of his prize, and placed it in a moderate sized box partially 

 filled with sand, and fed it on bruised Indian corn, which it ate 

 with avidity. Its disposition was wild and intractable, and it 

 effected its escape on the third day. While it remained in cap- 

 tivity it was incessantly employed in scratching sand into heaps, 

 and the rapidity with which it threw this material from one 

 end of the box to another was quite surprising for so small a 

 bird. In scratching up the sand the little creature only employed 



