GAME-BIRDS. 17 
Suborder I. PeRISTEROPODES. 
The first suborder of the Game-Birds includes two families, which are 
easily distinguished by the following characteristics. ‘The hind toe 
(halluz) is on the same level as the other toes, and the inner notch of the 
breast-bone (sternum) is less than half the length of the entire breast- 
bone. ‘The first family includes the Megapodes and Brush-Turkeys 
(Megapodiide) ; the second the Curassows, Penelopes, and Guans 
(Cracide). 
Family I. Mrcaropripa. Mercaropes. 
The Megapodes or Mound-builders are remarkable not only in having 
the oil-gland at the base of the tail nude, but for their peculiar nesting- 
habits, which possess the highest interest. The eggs, which are very 
large for the size of the birds, are laid at considerable intervals, and 
either deposited in holes dug in the sand or ina mound of soil and 
decaying vegetable matter raised by one or more pairs of birds. The 
young are hatched as in an incubator by the warmth of the mound or 
sand, without the aid of the parent birds, and on leaving the shell 
are fully feathered, able to fly and take care of themselves. In all the 
species the legs and feet are very large and strong and well adapted for 
digging and scratching. 
Of the true Megapodes—all dull-coloured birds—examples will be 
found in Megapodius cumingi (81) and M. freycineti (88). Like most 
of the other members of this family, they form a nesting-mound by 
kicking the soil and dead vegetable matter backwards into a common 
centre, thus forming a large heap, which is usually situated in dense 
jungle. By the efforts of successive generations this sometimes 
attains incredible dimensions, one instance being on record where the 
circumference round the base of the mound was no less than 150 feet. 
Each mound is said to be the property of one pair only, and the female, 
having deposited her eggs and covered them up, leaves them to be 
incubated by the heat of the accumulated decomposing matter. 
As may be seen by the young of M. cumingi (81) taken from the 
mound, the young bird when hatched is well-feathered and able to fly. 
The egg is remarkably large in proportion to the size of the parent. 
The most handsomely marked members of the group are Wallace’s 
Megapode (Hulipoa wallacet) (40), from the Moluccas, and Lipoa 
ocellata (41), from Southern and Western Australia. To the same 
family belong the Australian Brush-Turkeys (Catheturus) (43) and 
their allies from New Guinea (Talegallus) (42). The most remarkable 
is the Maleo (Megacephalon maleo) (89), a native of Celebes, with its 
delicate pink breast and an ornamental bare knob on the head. 
Cc 
[Case 7. ] 
