MEGAPODES 69 



much the same size, dancing about amongst some bushes. 

 They were out of sight most of the time, but I ' browned ' the 

 place with a heavy charge, and running up found a cock 

 megapode lying dead. In appearance the bird is not unlike 

 a partridge, though larger, and it has the same drooping tail ; 

 the feet, however, are out of all proportion, and are remarkable 

 for their extraordinary strength and size ; the plumage is olive- 

 brown in colour, except on the head, which is thinly covered 

 with pale greyish feathers, while the cheeks are naked and of 

 a bright vermilion. 



" Going further south than yesterday, I found beyond the rock, 

 in the middle of the beach, what was probably once a fair-sized 

 lagoon, but is now an open swamp nearly overgrown with grass 

 and nipah palms. Several small water-birds and a couple of 

 herons were flying about, and of the latter I obtained a white 

 variety. 



" We spent about an hour on shore in the afternoon and saw 

 some more megapodes, but failed to get a shot at them : they 

 frequent the open jungle directly bordering the shore, where the 

 soil is so light that they can build their mounds with ease." 



'' January II. — On leaving they'-^^^/ this morning, as I walked 

 over the rise of ground that separates it from the sea, 1 saw a 

 crocodile lying half-in and half-out of the water, but before I 

 could get near enough for a shot-cartridge to take effect he 

 turned and swam off; as he rose and fell with the waves, he 

 looked like a log of wood, but all the while made steadily sea- 

 ward ; he was about lo feet long, and brilliantly marked with 

 yellow. 



" In the afternoon I took the camera ashore to get photos 

 of a nest - mound. Just as I was entering the jungle by the 

 mound, I noticed that earth was being thrown in a con- 

 tinuous shower from the top. Soon a bird ran out from a 

 depression there ; I shot it, and at the noise another jumped 

 out for a moment and then went on digging, but appearing 

 again a few seconds later, I got it also. It was about to lay, but 

 the shot had unfortunately broken the egg : there is no external 



