MEGAPODES AND BRUSH TURKEYS 2207 



end of the tail, and the plumage of the upper parts mostly gray barred with 

 black. 



The brush turkeys ( Talegallus) include three or four species of large, 

 s dark-colored birds, with stout bills, oval nostrils, and the head, 

 throat, and front of the neck thinly covered with small scattered feathers; the genus 

 being confined to New Guinea and some of the adjacent islands. The Australian 

 brush turkey {Catheturuslathamt) , shown in the cut, differs in having a large 

 wattle at the base of the neck, the nostrils round, and the tail much longer. In 

 both sexes the general color of the upper parts is dark brownish black, paler on the 

 lower back and rump, the under parts being dark brownish gray, broadly edged 

 with white, the naked skin of the head and neck pinky red, and the wattle bright 

 yellow, Gould observes that "at the commencement of spring the wattled tale- 

 gallus scratches together an immense heap of decaying vegetable matter as a 

 depository for the eggs, and trusts to the heat engendered by the process of 

 fermentation for the development of the young. The heap employed for this 

 purpose is collected by the birds during several weeks previous to the period of 

 laying; it varies in size from two or many cartloads, and in most instances is of a 

 pyramidal form. . . . The materials composing these mounds are accumulated by 

 the bird grasping a quantity in its foot and throwing it backward to a common 

 centre, the surface of the ground for a considerable distance being so completely 

 scratched over that scarcely a leaf or a blade of grass is left. The eggs are 

 deposited in a circle at the distance of nine or twelve inches from each other, and 

 buried more than an arm's depth with the large end upward." 



Another genus (sEpypodius} from New Guinea and Waigiou is characterized 

 by a fleshy crest running from the base of the bill to the crown, a pendulous wattle 

 at the base of the fore-neck, and the chestnut upper tail coverts. 



The last genus of the family contains only the maleo (Mega- 

 cephalum maleo}, of North Celebes and the Sanghir islands, which is 

 the most remarkable of the group, both in its structure and habits. In both sexes 

 the head is naked, the crown being covered with a large black casque, while the 

 plumage of the upper parts, chest, flanks, thighs, and under tail coverts is dark 

 brown, and that of the breast and belly beautiful salmon pink. These birds do 

 not raise mounds in which to lay their eggs, but deposit the latter in holes dug in 

 the sand. Mr. Wallace describes one of their laying grounds as follows: "The 

 place is situated in the large bay between the islands of Limbe" and Banca, and con- 

 sists of a steep beach more than a mile in length of deep, loose, and coarse black 

 volcanic sand, or rather gravel very fatiguing to walk over. . . . It is in 

 this loose, hot, black sand, that those singular birds, the 'maleos,' deposit their 

 eggs. In the months of August 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 female bird is supposed to lay six or 

 eight eggs during the season. The male assists the female in making the hole, 



