2/4 cassell's book of birds. 



tail-covers deep chestnut-brown, the quills and tail-feathers blackish b^o^\^l, and back of the head and 

 under side grey. The eye is light reddish brown, the beak of rather a darker shade, and the foot 

 bright orange. 



" On my arrival at Port Essington," says Gilbert, " my attention was attracted to numerous 

 immense mounds of earth, which were pointed out to me by some of the residents as the tumuli of 

 the aborigines ; on the other hand, I was assured by the natives that they were formed by the 

 Megapode for the purpose of incubating its eggs. This latter statement appeared so extraordinary, 

 and so much at variance with the general habits of birds, that no one in the settlement believed them 

 or took sufficient interest in the matter to examine the mounds, and thus to verify or refute their 

 accounts. Another circumstance which induced a doubt of their veracity was the great size of the 

 eggs brought in by the natives as those of this bird. Aware that the eggs of the Leipoa were hatched 

 in a similar manner, my attention was immediately arrested by these accounts, and I at once 

 determined to ascertain all I possibly could respecting so singular a feature in the bird's economy ; 

 and having procured the assistance of a very intelligent native, who undertook to guide me to the 

 different places resorted to by these birds, I proceeded on the i6th of November to Knocker's Bay, 

 a part of Port Essington Harbour, comparatively but little known, and where I had been informed a 

 number of these birds were always to be seen." A detailed account follows of his iinding several 

 different mounds, which he examined, and was quite convinced that the natives had spoken the truth 

 concerning them. Somewhat later, Mr. John Macgillivray observed the Megapode on Nago Island, 

 in Endeavour Straits, and during his stay there was so fortunate as to procure both the male and the 

 female, and to find several mounds containing eggs. 



" Few birds," says this gentleman, " are more wary and less easily procured than the Megapodius; 

 it inhabits the belts of brush along the coast, and I never found the tumulus at a greater distance from 

 the sea than a few hundred }'ards. When disturbed this species seldom rises at once, unless on the 

 margin of a thicket, but runs off to some distance and then takes to wing, flying heavily, but without 

 any of the whirring noise of the true Gallinacccz. It seldom takes a long flight, and usually perches on 

 a tree, remaining there in a crouching attitude with outstretched neck, but flying off again upon 

 observing any motion made by its pursuer; and it is only by cautiously sneaking up under cover 

 of the largest trees that it can be approached within gunshot. As an example of its shyness, I may 

 mention that a party of three persons scattered about in a jungle on Nago Island for the purpose of 

 shooting the Megapodius did not see a single bird, although they put up several, one of which came 

 towards me and perched, unconscious of my presence, within twenty yards. At Port Essington I 

 have shot this bird among mangroves, the roots of which were washed by the sea at high water; 

 and Captain F. P. Blackwood killed one while running on the mud in a similar locality, in both 

 instances close to a mound." 



Gilbert also confirms the statement that it is found near the shore. The Megapode, he says, 

 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 Coleoptcra. He did not himself detect any note or cry, but, from the natives' description 

 of it, it much resembles the clucking of a Domestic Fowl, ending with a scream like that of the 

 Peacock. The mounds are very different, both as regards situation, size, and composition. They 

 usually stand near the edge of water ; some are composed of sand and shell, while others contain 

 vegetable mould and deca3'ing wood. Gilbert found one fifteen feet in height and sixty in 

 circumference at the base, and another which covered a space of at least a hundred and fifty feet in 



