by the B.O.U. Expedition to Dutch New Guinea. 107 



very large Reinwardtoenas gi'iseotincta and the smaller 

 cliestnut-plumaged Macropygia griseinucha ; the former 

 being a large and abnormally long-tailed bird with the 

 head, mantle, and under-parts grey and the back and tail 

 chestnut. 



Family Megapodiid^ — Megapodes or Mound-builders. 



The Game-birds are represented by three species of 

 INIound-builders, two being Brush-Tuikeys and the other 

 a true Megapode {Megapodii'S freycineti). The fact that 

 two closely allied species of Brush-Turkeys are found in 

 the same district is of considerable interest. The common 

 species of the country, Talegallusfuscirostris, has a very wide 

 coastal range, being also found in Soutii-eastern New Guinea 

 and extending along the north coast to the middle of 

 Geelvink Bay. The other species, T. cuvieri, is of western 

 origin, being hitherto knovfn from the Arfak Peninsula and 

 the islands of Salwatti, Mysol, and Gilolo. Its occurrence 

 on the Iwaka River was quite unexpected, and no doubt the 

 ranges of the two species overlap in the neighbourhood of 

 the Mimika in the south and in the vicinity of Rubi on 

 Geelvink Bay in the north. In both the plumage is 

 black, but 2\ cuvieri is a larger bird than T. fuscirostris,. 

 and is easily recognised by having the tibia feathered right 

 down to the tibio-tarsal joint and the bill orange-red instead 

 of sooty-brown. 



All these species are of the greatest interest on account 

 of their remarkable nesting -habits, and their nesting- 

 mounds of decaying vegetable matter were conspicuous 

 objects in the jungle. The eggs, which are very large for 

 the size of the birds, are buried among the debris which 

 the birds rake together into a large heap, the young being 

 hatched, as in an incubator, by the warmth of the decaying 

 leaves. The parent bird, after burying its eggs, takes no 

 further notice of them, but the young on leaving the 

 shell are fully feathered and able to fly and take care o£ 

 themselves. 



