880 Zoological Society : — 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Nov. 25, 1862.— E. W. H. Holdsworth, Esq., F.Z.S., in the 

 Chair. 



The following extracts were read from a letter addressed to the 

 Secretary by Dr. G. Bennett, F.Z.S., dated Sydney. 



" I have just received by Capt. M'^Leod a rough-dried specimen 

 of a Megapodius, found abundantly over the New Hebrides and 

 other groups of islands of the Southern Pacific. My specimen 

 was procured from the island of Nua Fou, where it is named ' Mal- 

 low ' by the natives. It accords with the description of M. Freyci- 

 neti. The bird measures 14 inches from the tip of the beak to the 

 end of the tail ; the plumage is of an uniform blackish-brown colour, 

 the mandibles, feet, and legs yellow. At Tanna they gave it the 

 English name of *Bush Fowl;' at Sandwich Island it was named 

 Tarboosh. At the island of Nua Fou, Capt. M'^Leod says the bird 

 lives in the scrubs in the centre of the island, about a large lagoon of 

 brackish water, which has the appearance of an extinct crater ; the 

 birds lay their eggs on one side only of this lagoon, where the soil is 

 composed of a sulphur-looking sand ; the eggs are deposited from 1 

 to 2 feet beneath the surface. The locality frequented by these 

 birds is, at this island, under the protection of the king or chief, and 

 by his permission only can the birds or eggs be procured. The num- 

 ber of eggs deposited in the mounds varies, as the eggs are laid by dif- 

 ferent birds in succession ; but as many as forty eggs are said to have 

 been procured from one mound. At the other islands the birds visit 

 the sandy beaches in retired localities near the sea about the months 

 of September and October, and deposit their eggs in mounds of sand 

 a short distance one from the other. Thus this bird has the habits 

 of the Freshwater Tortoises, which scoop a pit in the sand near a river, 

 deposit their eggs, and cover them up ; when hatched, the young force 

 their way out of the sand, and, guided by their instinct, make for the 

 river. Mr. Dawson, who procured living birds from the Island of 

 Sava or Russell Island, which unfortunately died on the passage 

 to Sydney, informs me that the female lays daily from two to four 

 eggs, and that the female on board laid two eggs daily until the time 

 of her death. The natives of the various islands inhabited bv these 

 birds collect these eggs for sale (for they are richer and more deli- 

 cious than those of the fowl), in baskets of two dozen each. The 

 eggs are sometimes found fresh and good when opened, whilst others 

 contain partially-formed young in different stages, even to the full- 

 fledged bird just ready to emerge from the shell into active life. 

 This might be expected, considering the irregular intervals of time 

 the eggs are laid. The eggs I have vary slightly in size, but are 

 usually of a pale brownish-red colour, and measure, for the most 

 part, 3 inches in length and 1| inch in breadth. 



" Our pair of Mooruks are thriving well in the Botanic Gardens : 

 we have placed them in a large grassed enclosure, 117 feet in length 



