Megapodes 



269 



conical shape, although some have been seen in the form of a long bank, nearly 

 thirty feet in length, and more than five feet in height. It appears that both 

 males and females work in the construction of these mounds, which are begun 

 some weeks previous to the period of laying, in the case of new ones, although 

 they are often used from year to year by simply adding more material. While 

 the evidence is somewhat conflicting, it appears beyond doubt that in some 

 of the species at least several pairs take part in the building and jointly occupy 

 the mound, as a considerable number of eggs have been taken from a single 

 mound. Other observers insist that only one pair occupy a mound. 



The eggs are of enormous size, considering the size of the bird, being from three 

 to three and a quarter inches long and from two to two and a quarter inches in 

 short diameter. They appear to be deposited at long intervals, as Davidson 

 dissected a Megapode that had just laid an egg and found that the largest egg 

 in the ovary was only the size of a large pea. 

 According to Wallace, the interval is some 

 twelve or thirteen days. The number laid 

 by a single female is unknown, but appears 

 to range from four to eight. The egg is 

 deposited at night and the male is said to 

 scratch the hole in the mound for its recep- 

 tion. The hole usually runs obliquely and 

 the egg is placed in the bottom, often nearer 

 to the side of the mound than the top ; the 

 depth varies from four to six feet. The egg 



is covered with the decaying vegetable matter and left to be hatched, and how 

 the chick can get out is a mystery, but get out it does, and runs off into the 

 forest, where it is able to look out for itself from the first. 



Of the true Megapodes (Megapodius), seventeen species have been described, 

 among them being two species that are fairly well known, namely, the Philip- 

 pine Megapode (M. cumingi) and the nearly related Sangi Island Megapode 

 (M. sanghirensis}. Slightly different is Wallace's Megapode (Eulipoa wallacei) 

 of the Molucca Islands and the Ocellated Megapode (Lipoa ocellata) of western 

 and southern Australia. Of the true Brush Turkeys (Talegallus) four species, 

 all of New Guinea and neighboring islands, have been described, with four 

 allied forms (Catheturus and jEpypodius] from Australia and New Guinea. 



The only remaining form is the Maleo (Megacephalon moled] of the Celebes 

 and Sangi islands, which differs in structure and in habits from the others. It 

 does not build a mound, but deposits its eggs in holes in the hot sand along the 

 seashore. The following account is given by Wallace : " It is in loose, hot, 

 black sand that the Maleos deposit their eggs. In the months of August and 

 September, when there is little or no rain, they come down in pairs from the 

 interior to this or one or two other favorite spots, and scratch holes three or four 

 feet deep, just above high-water mark, where the female deposits a single large 

 egg, which she covers over with about a foot of sand, and then returns to the 

 forest. At the end of ten or twelve days she comes again to the same spot to 



FIG. 86. Brush Turkey, Talegallus 

 lathami. 



