MEGAPODIUS. 449 



Family MEGAPODIIDiE. 



Megapodius nicobariensis, Blyth. The Nicohar Megapode. 



Megapodius nicobariensis, BL, Hume, Rough Draft N. Sr E. no. 803 

 sextus ; id. Cat. no. 803 oct. 



The Nicobar Megapode breeds in most, if not all, the islands of 

 the group from which it derives its name. On Table Island, an 

 islet of the Great Cocos, I had reason to think that they also 

 occurred and bred. 



While in these islands both Mr. Davison, who obtained numbers 

 of their eggs, and myself endeavoured to learn all we could of the 

 nidification of the Megapodes, and I shall quote here what he and 

 I have already recorded (Stray Feathers, vol. ii, p. 276 et seq.) 

 on this subject. 



Mr. Davison says : — " J have seen a great many mounds of this 

 bird. Usually they are placed close to the shore, but on Bompoka 

 and on Katchall I saw two mounds some distance inland in the 

 forest. They were composed of dried leaves, sticks, &c., mixed 

 with earth, and were very small, compared with others near the 

 sea-coast, not being above three feet high and about twelve or 

 fourteen feet in circumference ; those built near the coast are com- 

 posed chiefly of sand mixed with rubbish, and vary very much in 

 size, but average about five feet high aud thirty feet in circum- 

 ference ; but I met with one exceptionally large one on the island 

 of Trinkut, which must have been at least eight feet high and quite 

 sixty feet in circumference. It was apparently a very old one, for 

 from near its centre grew a tree about 6 inches in diameter, whose 

 roots penetrated the mound in all directions to within a foot of its 

 summit, some of them being nearly as thick as a man's wrist. I 

 had this mound dug away almost to the level of the surrounding 

 land, but only got three eggs from it, one quite fresh and two in 

 which the chicks were somewhat developed. 



" Off this mound I shot a Megapode, which had evidently only 

 just laid an egg. I dissected it, and from a careful examination it 

 would seem that the eggs are laid at long intervals apart, for the 

 largest egg in the ovary was only about the size of a large pea, and 

 the next in size about as big as a small pea. These mounds are 

 also used by reptiles, for out of one I dug, besides the Megapode's 

 eggs, about a dozen eggs of some large lizard. 



" I made careful inquiries among the natives about these birds, 

 and from them I learnt that they usually get four or five eggs from 

 a mound, but sometimes they get as many as ten ; they all assert 

 that only one pair of birds are concerned in the making of a mound, 

 and that they only work at night. When newly made, the mounds 

 (so I was informed) are small, but are gradually enlarged by the 

 birds. The natives never dig a mound away, but they probe it 



VOL. III. 29 



