KEEL-BREASTED BIRDS. 26 1 



about 89. The light-brown eggs are placed in a circle, 

 the pointed ends downward, separated by about three 

 inches of earth, and about them are often seen the gal- 

 leries of the white ants, that form the first food for the 

 young. The young, when hatched, scratch out alone, and 

 are perfectly featherless. The mother, however, takes care 

 of the brood after they come out. 



The megapodius (Megapodius tumulus), of Australia, is 

 about the size of a pheasant, of a reddish-brown color, and 

 a wily mimic when alarmed, alighting on a limb and crouch- 

 ing close, extending its neck so as easily to be mistaken 

 for a dead branch. The mounds are generally near the 

 water, and sometimes measure a hundred and fifty feet 

 in circumference and fifteen or twenty feet in height ; in 

 this case, probably, the work of generations. The white 

 eggs are extremely large, and over three inches long, and are 

 placed in the top of the mound at intervals near the sides, 

 at a depth of six feet, the larger end being upward. The 

 young, as soon as hatched, are able to care for themselves, 

 though they undoubtedly follow the mother. 



The breeding habits of the Maleo (Megacephaton ma- 

 leo)* of the Island of Celebes, are still more remarkable, and 

 exactly like those of the turtle. They resemble the Guinea 

 fowl, but have a hard, round excrescence on the head. 



Allied are the Curassows, the strange hoasin, in 

 which the keel of the breast-bone is cut away in front. 



* In August and September they go to the shore, and male and fe- 

 male excavate a hole in the volcanic sand four feet deep, just above 

 high-water mark. A single pale brick-red egg is deposited and light- 

 ly covered ; ten or twelve days later the female returns, and so on 

 until six or eight have been laid, and several hens that have come 

 ten or fifteen miles for the same purpose may lay in the same hole. 

 The young birds are hatched by heat in the sand, and break the shell 

 and struggle up through the ground like turtles, where they are ena- 

 bled to immediately take wing a wonderful and necessary provision 

 as they never see the parents, and are at once thrown upon their 

 own resources. 



