156 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



to above as producing young which are able to 

 shift for themselves as soon as hatched. Owing to 

 one of the largest of them, the Australian Brush- 

 Turkey {Catheturus lathami), being frequently im- 

 ported, their habits in at least one case are fairly 

 well known, and have besides been studied in they: 

 native haunts in the case of several other species. 

 Generally speaking, they live in Australia and 

 New Guinea, but one, the Maleo {Megacefhalon 

 maleo), is found in Celebes, and the birds of the 

 typical genus Megapodius, which are more like large 

 dull Partridges than anything else, are widely spread 

 from the Nicobars to well out in the Pacific Islands 

 — -Ninafou and Samoa. All lay very large eggs for 

 their size, so that here at any rate large size of egg 

 corresponds with high development of the young 

 when hatched, and make up their natural incubators 

 with their powerful feet, in which the hind toe is 

 well developed and low set, although they do not 

 perch more than the typical Game-birds. 



Their claws are often very long and strong, and 

 they present the peculiarity, only found elsewhere 

 among birds in the Cuckoos, of having the second 

 and third toes, i.e. the inner and middle front ones, 

 joined by a short web at the base, whereas this 

 web, where it exists in other birds, is either between 

 the outer and middle toes — third and fourth — as in 

 the Herons, or c6nnects all the toes, as in typical 

 Game-birds. I mention this point because it is 

 commonly supposed that small points not obviously 

 connected with habits, and hence of value in classi- 



