RASORES. 375 



when pronounced, to their shrieking cry. They are nearly as 

 large as the Guans. 



THIRD FAMILY. MEGAPODES, or GREATFOOTS. 

 Megapodiida, (Gr. /w^as, mggas, great ; Trofc, a foot.) 



This family are scattered over Australia and the islands of the 

 Indian Archipelago. 



Their characters may be given thus: the beak is vaulted, 

 somewhat compressed ; the wings short and rounded ; the tail 

 short, varying in the number of its feathers from twelve to 

 eighteen ; the feet of disproportionate size and strength, the tarsi 

 being stout, elevated, and strongly scaled ; the toes long, robust, 

 and armed with strong, flat, rasorial claws. 



The flesh of these birds is white, and much valued for its 

 tenderness and flavor. The eggs are enormously large, as com 

 pared with those of other birds. 



The BRUSH TURKEY, Talegalla Latha.?ki~, (of Latham,) is so 

 called from being found principally in the thick brushwood of 

 New South Wales. Mr. Gould has given an account of the 

 curious nests of these birds. In making them, the bird never 

 uses its bill, but always grasping a quantity of material in its 

 foot, throws it backward to the common centre ; and thus clears 

 the surface of the ground for a considerable distance so com- 

 pletely, that scarcely a leaf or blade of grass is left. After heat 

 is engendered in the mound, the eggs are planted at the distance 

 of nine or twelve inches from each other, and buried nearly at 

 arm s depth, perfectly upright, with the large end upwards. 

 They are covered up as laid, and allowed to remain until 

 hatched. It is said nearly a bushel of eggs is not unusually 

 obtained, at one time, from a single heap ; and as they are deli 

 cious eating, they are eagerly sought. 



The MOUND-MAKING MEGAPODE, Megapodius tumulus, (Lat. a 

 mound ) confines itself to thickets near the sea-shore, and is 

 called the Jungle-fowl. It is of a bright red brown color, about 

 as large as a common fowl, and lays its eggs in mounds, not at 

 intervals, like the Brush-Turkey, but at the bottom of the mound, 

 usually five or six feet in depth. Sometimes the mounds are 

 excessively large. One is spoken of as fifteen feet in height, 

 naving a circumference of sixty feet at its base! From their 

 small brain, and not sitting upon their eggs, but leaving them to 

 the warmth of the sun s rays, or the fermentation of vegetable 

 matter, the Megapodes are supposed to be the lowest representa 

 tives of their class. 



16 



