154 NATURAL HISTORY. 



ing to the account given by the Malays, each bird lays about eight or ten eggs at each time of breeding, 

 and their nests are merely large heaps of shells and rubbish deposited over tl\e sandy soil in which the 

 eggs are buried to the depth of about eighteen inches. Since receiving this account, however, we have 

 had an opportunity of inspecting a very large and perfect nest, or breeding-hill, and found it to be 

 about twenty feet in diameter, and composed of sand, earth, and sticks ; it was close to the beach, just 

 within the jungle, and scarcely above high- water mark, and appeared to have been used for many 

 years. The boatmen seemed to have no clue to what part of the hillock contained eggs, but said they 

 were never without some when frequented at all. They sought for nearly a half an hour in vain before 

 they found one, and then they got about a dozen together ; they were buried at a depth of from one to 

 three feet, in an upright position, and the ground about them was astonishingly hard. The eggs thus 

 deposited are left to be hatched by the heat of the sun, and this, the Malays assert, requires between 

 three and four months to complete. Those obtained from this heap were brought home and buried in a 

 box of sand, and a month or two afterwards it was discovered that they had all hatched, but that from 

 neglecting to place them in a proper (i.e., probably an upright) position, the chicks could not get up 

 through the sand, and had all perished. "When hatched, the chicks are almost entirely fledged ; even 

 the long quills being, as the Malay says, 'needled.' When first dug out, some of the eggs had lost 

 much of their outer colour, which appeared to have scaled off, leaving only a white chalky shell. On 

 a former occasion some eggs were brought by the natives, and were buried in a box of sand, and 

 exposed to the weather : at the end of about three weeks one of the chicks was hatched. A Malay, who 

 saw it emerge, said that it just shook off the sand and ran away so fast that it was with difficulty 

 caught ; it then appeared to be nearly half -grown, and from the first fed itself without hesitation, 

 scratching and turning up the sand like an old bird. Two more afterwards emerged in the same state. 

 Their eggs are held in such high estimation as food, both by natives and Europeans, that one cannot but 

 fear that thess interesting birds, though now so abundant, will ere long become scarce." 



The late Mr. Gilbert Gould also describes the habits of the Mound-raising Megapode of Australia 

 in a minute and exhaustive manner. The particulars which he furnishes about the mounds are very 

 interesting : 



" I revisited Knocker's Bay on the 10th of February, and having with some difficulty penetrated 

 into a dense thicket of cane-like creeping plants, I suddenly found myself beside a mound of gigantic 

 proportions. It was fifteen feet in height and sixty in circumference at the base, the upper part being 

 about a third less, and was entirely composed of the richest description of light vegetable mould ; on 

 the top were veiy recent marks of birds' feet. The native and myself immediately set to work, and 

 after an hour's extreme labour, rendered the more fatiguing from the excessive heat, and the torment- 

 ing attacks of myriads of mosquitoes and sand-flies. I succeeded in obtaining an egg from a depth of 

 about five feet. It was in a perpendicular position with the earth surrounding and very lightly touch- 

 ing it on all sides, and without any other material to impart warmth, which, in fact, did not appear 

 necessary, the mound being quite warm to the hands. The holes in this mound commenced at the 

 outer edge of the summit, and ran down, obliquely towards the centre ; their direction was therefore 

 uniform. Like the majority of the mounds I have seen, this was so enveloped in thickly foliaged trees 

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



" The mounds differ very much in their composition, form, and situation ; most of those that are 

 placed near the water's edge were formed of sand and shells, without a vestige of any other material, 

 but in some of them I met with a portion of soil and decaying wood. When constructed of this loose 

 material they are very irregular in outline, and often resemble a bank thrown up by a constant surf. 

 One remarkable specimen of this description, situated on the southern bank of Knocker's Bay, has the 

 appearance of a bank from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, with an average height of five feet ; 

 another, even more singular, is situated at the head of the harbour, and is composed entirely of pebbly 

 iron-stone, resembling a confused heap of sifted gravel ; into this I dug to the depth of two or three feet 

 without finding any change of character. It may have been conical originally, but is now without any 

 regularity, and is very extensive, covering a space of at least a hundred and fifty feet in circumference. 

 These remarkable specimens would, however, seem to be exceptions, as by far the greater number 

 are entirely formed of light, black, vegetable soil, are of a conical form, and are situated in the densest 

 thickets. Occasionally the mounds are met with in barren, rocky, and sandy situations, where not a 



