280 MEGAPODID*. 



level ground) is cleared of almost every fallen leaf and twig. 

 The mounds are often six feet in height, and twelve to fourteen 

 yards wide at the base ; sometimes they are more conical. The 

 central portion consists of decayed leaves mixed with fine debris, 

 the next of coarser and less rotted materials ; and the outside is 

 a mass of recently gathered leaves, sticks, and twigs not showing 

 signs of decay. In opening the nest these are easily removed, 

 and must be carefully pushed backwards over the sides, beginning 

 at the top. Having cleared these, and obtained plenty of room 

 remove the semidecayed strata, and below it where the 

 fermentation has begun, in a mass of light fine leaf-mould will be 

 found the eggs placed with the thin end downwards, often in a 

 circle, with three or four in the centre, about six inches apart. 

 At one side, where the eggs have been first laid they will probably 

 be found more or less incubated', but in the centre where the 

 eggs are placed last, quite fresh ; and if only one pair of birds 

 have laid in the mound, about twelve to eighteen eggg will be the 

 complement, and will be found arranged as described above. On 

 the other hand, if several females resort to the same nest the 

 regularity will be greatly interfered with and two or three eggs 

 in different stages of development will be found close to one another, 

 some quite fresh, others within a few days of being hatched. 

 There are usually ten eggs in the first layer, five or six in the 

 second, three or four only in the centre. I found that the females 

 return every second day to lay, but never succeeded in ascertaining 

 which of the parent birds opens the nest. The aborigines informed 

 me that the male bird always performs this office ; and I usually 

 found my black boys very correct in their statements of this kind. 

 After robbing a nest it is necessary to replace the different layers 

 as they were found, if the lowermost is too much mixed up with 

 the others, or the the top tumbled into the excavations made in 

 the bottom one, the birds will invariably forsake the mound ; so 

 that I found it always necessary to carefully replace the different 

 layers as I found them. It is not so with the Megapodius tumulus, 

 which species does not seem to care how much the mound is tumbled 

 about, so that there is sufficient debris left to burrow in ; and ■ 



