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 @ébris of an ancient lava-stream from 
the Klabat Volcano, especially as beyond the two rivers the 
beaches are of w/z¢fe 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 
