26 Wonders of the Bird World 



been quite three weeks old, so that it is difficult to imagine 

 the object of their stay in the darkness when they were 

 quite able to support themselves outside ; and, again, one 

 is tempted to inquire how they can sec, and on what they 

 feed during their imprisonment in the mound. In some 

 places the natives suggest that the old females do not 

 absolutely desert their young, but that, on the contrary, 

 both parents revisit the mound and uncover the eggs. The 

 latter are sometimes placed at an extraordinary depth in 

 the mound. Thus Gilbert relates that he saw eggs of the 

 Australian Megapodc {Megapodius tumulus) dug out by 

 natives from a depth of six feet. Only one egg is laid by 

 the female in a hole in the mound, and the earth is then 

 strewn very lightly and the hole covered up. Several eggs 

 are found in the same mound, but each in its separate hole, 

 and with the broad end uppermost. In many of the 

 islands a trade is done by the natives, who sell the eggs to 

 passing ships, and the birds are therefore generally pre- 

 served with care, and even become semi-domesticated. 

 Speaking of Brenchlcy's Megapode {M. brencJileyi) in the 

 Solomon Islands, Mr. C. M. Wooiford says that when 

 he landed on Savo he saw "hundreds of Megapodes " 

 scratching out their holes in the warm sand, and scarcely 

 stopping at his approach. He writes — 



" The natives highly prize its eggs as an article of food. 

 They are considerably larger than a duck's egg, and out of 

 all proportion to the size of the bird. The birds lay in 

 open sandy clearings, generally near the sea, which are kept 

 clear of shrubs and undergrowth by the natives, and by the 

 sand being constantly turned over by the birds. The eggs 

 are buried sometimes as deeply as two feet from the surface, 

 and are hatched by the natural heat of the hot sand. Many 

 thousands of birds congregate at the same place, the laying- 

 yards being often some acres in extent. At the island of 

 Savo, where these birds especially abound, they become so 



