REPRODUCTION— CARE OF THE OFFSPRING 217 



by which the transfer was effected. Six lonely weeks, in 

 darkness of mid-winter, are thus passed before the chick appears, 

 bringing with it increased cares and responsibilities (p. 287). 



Dr. Wilson exploded one curious myth concerning the 

 brooding habits of the King Penguins, a myth all the more 

 remarkable because created by a naturalist of no less standing 

 than the late Professor Moseley. He it was who, in his account 

 of the Voyage of the Challenger — which he accompanied in 

 its now famous journey round the world in the capacity of 

 naturalist — ^stated that the King Penguin carried its egg in a 

 pouch between its legs. It is strange that the probability of 

 his having been mistaken as to the pouch should not have 

 occurred to him, and that he should not have inquired further 

 into the matter, by way at any rate of comparing this with that 

 of the marsupial Mammalia. 



While incubation among the birds is almost universally 

 performed by brooding, there are one or two noteworthy ex- 

 ceptions to this rule. Thus the little Egyptian Plover {^gyptius 

 pluvialis) buries its eggs in the sand, brooding them only during 

 the chill hours of night. The Ostrich has been said to adopt a 

 similar device for escaping the irksome work of brooding. As 

 a matter of fact, however, the hen broods by day and the cock 

 by night ; but during wet weather, be it noted, the cock sits by 

 day as well as by night, while in the more tropical parts of its 

 breeding range the eggs are said to be left during the day to 

 the sun's rays, covered only by a layer of sand. But the Mega- 

 podes have utterly abandoned all brooding habits, and leave 

 their eggs entirely to natural agencies to hatch, the methods by 

 which this is accomplished varying with the different species. 

 Thus the " Maleo " {Megacephalum maleo) of Celebes " come 

 down in pairs," says Wallace, from the interior to the beach, 

 where they " scratch holes in the coarse black volcanic sand three 

 or four feet deep and four to five feet wide, just above high- water 

 mark," therein an egg is laid, then covered with about a foot of 

 sand. At the end of ten or twelve days the journey is repeated, 

 and so on until from six to eight eggs have been buried within 

 this pit. Not seldom, however, several birds continue to lay in 

 the same hole, as many as a dozen eggs having been found 

 together. After the last eggs are laid the birds return no more, 

 and the young, on hatching, work their way up through the 



