1862.] LETTER FROM DR. G. BENNETT. 247 



is the case with the Mooruk among the natiA'cs of New Britain, I do 

 not consider they can have become so scarce. We have not a single 

 skin of tliis bird in the AustraUan Museum. Tlae first time I sent for 

 them tlie captain expected to call at the Navigators' Islands, but did 

 not do so. Just previous to receiving your letter I was attending a 

 young man in the office of a merchant who owns vessels trading to 

 the islands ; and as he is going for change of air as supercargo of a 

 brig to visit the Samoan group about the end of August, I have 

 furnished him with the description of the bird, and I will now give 

 him your drawing. He will also procure me some Samoan Pigeons ; 

 and I hope that the brig will return, and, if successful, in sufficient 

 time to send all the birds to you by the next voyage of the ' La 

 Hogue.' 



" I am happy to inform you that Mr. Hill has a pair of Brush- 

 Turkeys (Talegalld), male and female, for Mr. A. Denison, for your 

 Society. We have also a female ; and as the Acclimatization Society 

 have made arrangements with a collector (who proceeds next month 

 to the northern districts) to procure for us several pairs of these 

 birds to keep and breed, I will at the same time secure another pair 

 in case of your requiring another male bird. I propose sending them 

 to London in pairs, as most birds like society and are more likely to 

 survive the voyage when in pairs. 



" I will now give you some notes on birds which may be of interest 

 to you. I have just received by Capt. M'^Leod a rough-dried spe- 

 cimen of a Megapodius, found abundantly over the New Hebrides 

 and other groups of islands of the Southern Pacific. My specimen 

 was procured from the island of Nua Fou, where it is named ' Mal- 

 low' by the natives. It accords with the description of M.freyci^ 

 neti. The bird measures 14 inches from the tip of the beak to the 

 end of the tail ; the plumage is of an uniform blackish-brown colour, 

 the mandibles, feet, and legs yellow. At Tanna they gave it the 

 English name of 'Bush Fowl;' at Sandwich Island it was named 

 Tarboosh. At the island of Nua Fou, Capt. M'^Leod says the bird 

 lives in the scrubs in the centre of the island, about a large lagoon of 

 brackish water, which has the appearance of an extinct crater ; the 

 birds lay their eggs on one side only of this lagoon, where the soil is 

 composed of a sulphur-looking sand ; the eggs are deposited from 1 

 to 2 feet beneath the surface. The locality frequented by these 

 birds is, at this island, under the protection of the king or chief, and 

 by his permission only can the birds or eggs be procured. The num- 

 ber of eggs deposited in the mounds varies, as the eggs are laid by dif- 

 ferent birds in succession ; but as many as forty eggs are said to have 

 been procured from one mound. At the other islands the birds visit 

 the sandy beaches in retired localities near the sea about the months 

 of September and October, and deposit their eggs in mounds of sand 

 a short distance one from the other. Thus this bird has the habits 

 of the Freshwater Tortoises, which scoop a pit in the sand near a river, 

 deposit their eggs, and cover them up ; when hatched, the young force 

 their way out of the sand, and, guided by their instinct, make for the 

 river. Mr. Dawson, who procured living birds from the Island of 



