I 



THE GUALAMA. " 373 



hatched. This mound varies in quantity from two to four 

 cartloads, and is of a perfectly pyramidical form : it is not, 

 liowever, the work of a single pair of birds, but the result of 

 the united labour of many, and the same site appears to be 

 resorted to for several years in succession. ' The mode,' says 

 Mr. Grould, 'in which the materials composing these mounds 

 are accumulated is equally singular, the bird never using its 

 bill, but always grasping a quantity in its foot, throwing it 

 backwards to one common centre, and thus clearing the surface 

 of the ground to a considerable distance so completely that 

 scarcely a leaf or blade of grass is left.' The heap being ac- 

 cumulated and time allowed for a sufficient heat to be 

 engendered, the eggs, each measuring not less than four inches 

 in length — an enormous size, considering the bulk of the bird 

 — are deposited, not side by side, as is ordinarily the case, but 

 planted at the distance of nine or tw^elve inches from each 

 other, and buried at nearly an arm's depth perfectly upright, 

 with the large end upwards ; they are covered up as they are 

 laid, and allowed to remain until hatched. Aftersix weeks of 

 burial, the eggs, in succession and without any warning, give 

 up their chicks — not feeble, but full-fledged and strong, so that 

 at night they scrape holes for themselves, and lying down 

 therein are covered over by the old birds and thus remain until 

 morning. The extraordinary strength of the newly-hatched 

 birds is accounted for by the size of the shell, since in so large 

 a space it is reasonable to suppose that the young ones would 

 be much more developed than is usually found in eggs of 

 smaller dimensions. Other Australian birds, such as the 

 Jungle-fowl [Megapodius tumulus), Duperrey's Megapodius 

 (M. Duperreyii), which inhabits the forests of New Guinea, 

 and the Leipoas or native pheasants, construct similar mound- 

 like nests. Those of the jungle-fowl, observed at Port Essing- 

 ton, are described as fifteen feet high, and sixty in circum- 

 ference at the base, and so enveloped in thickly foUaged trees 

 as to preclude the possibility of the sun's rays reaching any 

 part of it. 



The tropical forests of the eastern hemisphere resound with 

 bird-cries no less appalling, wild, or strange than those of the 

 western world. In the close jungles of Ceylon one occasionally 

 liears the call of the Copper-smith {^Megalasara Indica), whose 



