140 JUNGLE-FOWL. 



Mr. Gilbert revisited Knocker's Bay in February, 

 and having, with some difficulty, penetrated into 

 a dense thicket of cane-like creeping plants, he 

 suddenly found himself beside a mound of gigan- 

 tic proportions. It was fifteen feet in height, and 

 sixty in circumference at the base, the upper part 

 being about a third less, and was entirely com- 

 posed of the richest description of light vegetable 

 mould ; on the top were very recent marks of the 

 bird's feet. Assisted by a native, he immediately 

 set to work, and after an hour's extreme labour, 

 rendered the more fatiguing from the excessive 

 heat, and the tormenting attacks of myriads of 

 mosquitoes and sand-flies, he succeeded in obtain- 

 ing an egg from a depth of about five feet. It was 

 in a perpendicular position, with the earth sur- 

 rounding, and very lightly touching it on all sides, 

 and without any other material to impart warmth, 

 which in fact did not appear necessary, the mound 

 being quite warm to the hands. The holes in this 

 mound commenced at the outer end of the sum- 

 mit, and ran down obliquely towards the centre : 

 their direction, therefore, is not uniform. Like 

 the majority of other mounds, this was so enve- 

 loped in thickly-foliaged trees, as to preclude the 

 possibility of the sun's rays penetrating to any 

 part of it. 



The mounds differ very much in their compo- 

 sition, form, and situation ; most of those that are 



