32 



The Megapodes and Mound-builders (family Megapodiidce) are 

 remarkable for their " extraordinary method of nidification," they 

 being " the first feathered inventors of an artificial incubator to 

 take the place of the mother" in providing the warmth necessary 

 for hatching the eggs. They build mounds of earth and dead 

 leaves or other vegetable matter, in which they lay their eggs to 

 be hatched by the heat developed by the decomposition of the 



Argus Pheasant. 



mass. These mounds are sometimes of enormous size, being 

 added to year after year by the original builders or their descen- 

 dants. The Megapodes (or Big-feet) numbering nearly thirty 

 species, and the Mound-builders about six, and are confined to 

 Australia, New Guinea and neighboring islands. (See Case P.) 



The Curassows and Guans (family Cracidce) are exclusively 

 inhabitants of tropical and subtropical America, one species (see 

 Case C) reaching the Texan border of the United States. They 

 number altogether about sixty species, varying in size from that 



