218 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



of these are given under the genera, and the general internal characters have been 

 given under the ordinal heading. The chief differences in the Megapodes may be 

 noted : the oil gland is nude, the left carotid only is present, while the syrinx is 

 peculiar and of a primitive nature ; the basipterygoid processes are more noticeable 

 and the skull shows details of difference, and the wing is aquincubital. We have 

 traced no details of Leipoa, and Shufeldt in his recent papers on this subject in the 

 Emu mentions nothing. 



FAMILY MEGAPODHXE. 

 Genus MEGAPODIUS. 



Megapodius Gaimard, Bull. Gen. Univ. Annon. Nouv. Sci. Ferussac, Vol. II., p. 450, (read 



June 6th) 1823 (July, Aug.). Type (by subsequent designation, Mathews, List Birds Austr., 



p. 5, 1913) : Megapodius freycinet Gaimard. 



Alecthelia Lesson, Bull. Sci. Nat. Ferussac, Vol. VIII., p. 115, pt. i., (Jan ?) 1826. Type 



(by monotypy) : Alecthelia urvittii Lesson and Garnot = M. freycinet Gaimard. 



Amelous Gloger, Hand- u. Hilfsb., pt. v., p. 375, 1841 (end). New name for Alecthelia Lesson. 



Megathelia Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol, II., pt. 5, p. 112, Sept. 24th, 1914. Type (by 



original designation) : Megapodius tumulus Gould. 



Small Galline birds, with short head and bill, occipital crest, long rounded 

 wings, short tail and very stout legs and short toes. The bill is shorter than the 

 head, rather delicate for this group, a little flattened and laterally compressed, the 

 tip decurved, the nostrils linear ovals, almost hidden by a membranous operculum ; 

 under mandible flattened. The lores and round the eyes scantily feathered. The 

 wing is very rounded, the feathers stiff, the first primary long but only equal to 

 the ninth, the second equal to the eighth, all the intermediate ones subequal ; the 

 secondaries comparatively short. The tail is rounded and very short, composed 

 of twelve broad rounded feathers and is only about two-fifths the length of the 

 wing. The legs are very stout, the tarsus having strong scaling, the broad frontal 

 scutes being broken into hexagonal scales towards the toes, the sides having large- 

 scutes of similar shape ; the toes are rather short, the outer and inner subequal 

 and little shorter than the middle toe, while the hind-toe is two-thirds its length ; 

 the claws are very long and little curved. 



Coloration dark chestnut-brown above, lead -grey below. Nestling barred with 

 brown and black. 



150. Megapodius reinwardt. SCRUB FOWL. 



[Megapodius reinwardt Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat. (Levrault), Vol. XXIX., p. 416, Dec. 27th,, 

 1823 : Amboina errore = Aru Islands. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 79 (pt. vi.), March 1st, 1842. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 1, pi. 6, Oct. 31st, 1910. 



Megapodius tumulus Gould, Birds Austr., pt. vi., March 1st, 1842 : Cobourg Peninsula, 



Northern Territory. 



Megapodius atsimilis Masters, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. I., p. 59, Feb. 1876 : Dungeness 



Island, Torres Strait, North Queensland. 



Megapodius duperreyi melvillensis, Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 26, April 



2nd, 1912 : Melville Island, Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. North Queensland, Northern Territory. 



Adult male (from the Northern Territory). General colour above, including 

 the wings and tail, dark chestnut-brown, becoming darker or the lower back, 

 rump, upper tail-coverts and >tail ; primary-coverts and quills blackish, paler 

 on the outer webs ; head crested, darker than the back, the feathers being 

 lanceolate in form imparts a more or less streaked appearance ; hind-neck and 

 upper mantle dark lead-grey like the entire under-surface, except the under tail- 

 coverts, which are dark chestnut like the flanks ; under wing-coverts dark lead- 

 grey ; fore-head, space round the eyes and sides of face very sparsely feathered 



