118 



6. On an undescribed species of Megapodius. 

 By L. Llewellyn Dillwyn, Esq., F.G.S., F.Z.S. etc. 



(Aves, PI. XXXIX.) 



My friend Mr. James Motley, who is now conducting the operations 

 of the Eastern Archipelago Company in Labuan, has lately sent me 

 home a box of zoological specimens which he has collected in that 

 island, and among the birds was the pair of the Megapodius, one of 

 which I now produce ; it is, I believe, identical with the species in 

 the British Museum sent home by Mr. Cuming from the Philip- 

 pine Islands. In the catalogue accompanying the specimens, and 

 in several letters which I have received from him, he has described 

 some of the habits of these curious birds, and deeming that original 

 observations, however scanty, on the habits of almost any animal 

 from that remote region might not be uninteresting to the Society, I 

 have abstracted from his communications to me the following notice 

 respecting them : — 



These birds are said to be principally confined to small islands, 

 and to such more especially as have sandy beaches ; they are not 

 uncommon in Labuan, but are, however, very rarely to be seen, as 

 they are very shy, and frequent dense flat parts of the jungle, where 

 the ratans grow and where the luxuriance of the vegetation renders 

 concealment easy. 



The Malays snare them by forming long thick fences in unfre- 

 quented parts of the jungle; in these they leave openings at intervals 

 in which they place traps ; the birds, running through the cover in 

 search of food, meeting the obstruction caused by the fence, run 

 along it till they come to one of the openings, through which they 

 push their way and are trapped. 



Their food principally consists of seeds and insects. 



In walking they lift their feet very high from the ground, and set 

 up their backs something like guinea fowls ; they frequently make a 

 loud noise, like the very loud screech of a chicken when caught. 



They are very pugnacious, and fight with great fury by jumping 

 upon one another's backs and scratching with their long strong claws. 



The eggs are of a fine dark cream-colour, and of very large size, 

 three of them weighing nearly as much as a full-grown bird. Ac- 

 cording to the general account given to Mr. Motley by the Malays, 

 each bird lays about eight or ten at each time of breeding ; the place 

 they select for depositing them is always situated near the beach, and 

 close within the edge of the jungle, and here they bury them in the 

 sandy soil to the depth of about eighteen inches ; over the place 

 where they are thus buried the bird collects a large heap of shells 

 and rubbish, so that a person who has seen their nest has no diffi- 

 culty in finding it again ; the eggs thus deposited are left to be hatched 

 by the heat of the sun, and this the natives assert requires between 

 three and four months to complete. Mr. Motley himself found upon 

 breaking an egg which had been thus situated for nearly six weeks, 

 that it contained merely the embryo of a chick, about as much ad- 

 vanced as that of a hen's egg at four days. Some other eggs which 



