The Zoologist — February, 1866. 55 



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, v\here not a particle of soil similar to that of which they are 

 composed occurs for miles round; how the soil is produced in such 

 situations appears unaccountable; it has been said that the parent 

 birds bring it from a great distance; but as we have seen that they 

 readily adapt themselves to the difference of situation this is scarcely 

 probable: I conceive that they collect the dead leaves and other 

 vegetable matter that may be al band, and which, decomposing, forms 

 this particular description of soil. The mounds are doubtless the work 

 of many years, and of many birds in succession : some of them are 

 evidently very ancient, trees being often seen growing ivom their sides; 

 in one instance 1 found a tree grouing from the middle of a mound 

 which was a foot in diameter. 1 endeavoured to glean from the natives 

 how the young effect their escape ; but on this point they do not agree, 

 some assertingfthat they find their way unaided; others, on the con- 

 trary, affirmed that the old birds, knowing when the young are ready 

 to emerge from their confinement, scratch down and release them. 

 The natives say that only a single pair of birds are ever found at one 

 mound at a time, and such, judging from my own observation, J believe 

 to be the case ; they also affirm that the eggs are deposited at night, 

 at intervals of several days, and this I also believe to be correct as 

 four eggs taken on the same day, and from the same mound, con- 

 tained young in different stages of development ; and the fact that they 

 are always placed perpendicularly is establislied by the concurring 

 testimony of all the different tribes of natives 1 have questioned on the 

 subject. 



"*The Megapode is almost exclusively confined to the dense 

 thickets immediately adjacent to the sea-beach; it appears never to 

 go far inland, except along the banks of creeks. It is always met with 

 in pairs or quite solitary, and feeds on the ground, its food consisting 

 of roots, which its powerful claws enable it to scratch up with the 

 utmost facility, and also of seeds, berries and insects, particularly the 

 larger species of Coleoptera. It is at all times a very difficult bird to 

 procure ; for although the rustling noise produced by its stiff pinions 

 when flying may be frequently heard, the bird itself is seldom to be 

 seen. Its flight is heavy and unsustained in the extreme; when first 

 disturbed it invariably flies to a tree, and on alighting stretches out its 



