BR USH-TURKE YS. 231 



and that out of one of these, about five feet high and sixteen or eighteen feet in diam- 

 eter, as many as twenty eggs had been taken in one month. 



Leipoa ocellata, the other generic form of this sub-family, also possesses this curious 

 habit of mound-building, but the eggs are deposited in a very different manner from 

 that related of the Australian megapode. Instead of being placed in holes in differ- 

 ent parts of the mound, they are laid in the centre, all at the same depth and arranged 

 in a circle about three inches apart, with the small end downwards, and eight eggs 

 are about the largest number in one nest. The mounds of this bird are also con- 

 structed somewhat differently. A hole is first scratched in the soil, and this filled 

 with dead leaves, grass, and similar materials, and then a huge mass of a similar sub- 

 stance is raised about it. Over this a quantity of sand mixed with dried grass is 

 thrown until the whole assumes the conical form. When an egg is laid, a receptacle 

 having been made for it at the edge of the hole in the centre, it is at once covered up. 

 A second is laid on the same plane, but on the opposite side ;" the third is placed at the 

 third corner, and the fourth opposite to it, and then the succeeding ones in the inter- 

 stices left, so that the complement forms a circle. The young are said to dig them- 

 selves out, and the mother, who is always near, takes entire charge of the brood, the 

 young remaining with her until half grown. The Leipoa is a slender and rather 

 gracefully formed bird, with short legs and is about twenty-four inches in length. 



The sub-family Telegallinae has three genera, Megacephalon, Talegallus^ and -^Zpy- 

 podius, the first with one species, the second with four, and the last with two. The 

 interesting bird known as Megacephalon maleo is a native of Celebes, and is confined 

 to the littoral parts of the island. It abounds in the forests, and feeds on fruits, de- 

 scending to the sea-beach in the months of August and September to deposit its eggs. 

 This bird does not raise a mound as the megapodes do, as its feet are not formed for 

 grasping, and the claws are short and straight, but it excavates holes in the sand four 

 or five feet in diameter, and in these, at a depth of one or two feet, the eggs are de- 

 posited. There are sometimes as many as eight eggs in one hole, each laid by a sep- 

 arate bird. The eggs, for the size of the species, are enormous, being 4.3 inches long 

 and 2.4 inches wide, and of a pale brownish red. The egg quite fills the lower cavity 

 of the bird's body, and about thirteen days elapse between the laying of each egg. 

 After they are all deposited, the hen pays no further attention to them, and the 

 young, on emerging from the shell, dig themselves out, and run off into the adjoining 

 forest. The maleo is a handsome bird, the upper parts and tail being glossy black, and 

 the under parts rosy white. The head and neck are bare, and on the head is a kind 

 of helmet formed by the backward prolongation of the cranium into a cellular mass. 



The four species of Talegallus are the well-known T. lathami of Australia, and the 

 T. cuvieri, T.jobiensis and T. fuscirostris of New Guinea and some of the other 

 islands of the eastern archipelago. They construct mounds similar to those of the 

 megapodes, but several females deposit their eggs together, and it is said that nearly 

 half a bushel of eggs have been procured in the same mound. The natives state that 

 the mound is always opened by the male when the hens desire to lay, and the eggs 

 are placed in a circle with the thin end downwards. When stalking about the woods 

 the talegallus utters a loud clucking noise and runs rapidly through the brush when 

 disturbed, or takes refuge in a tree. It is nearly as large as a female turkey, and has 

 the upper surface, wings, and tail blackish-brown ; under surface blackish-brown, the 

 feathers silver-gray at the tip ; skin of the head and neck deep pink red, sprinkled 

 with short, blackish-brown feathers ; wattle, bright yellow. The female resembles the 



