254 



THE UNIVERSE. 



work of the INIegapodius and that which a man could 

 execute, we should really l)e astonished at the results. 

 The comparative size of the animal being very difficult t(J 

 arrive at on account of the variety of its attitudes, if then 







1.52. Nest of the Tumulus-building JMegapodius, seen from ;i1jove. —From Gould. 



we take the weight as a standard, we find that a Mega- 

 [»odius w^eighing rather above 2 lbs. sometimes raises its 

 tumulus more than 10 feet in height;^ now, as a man 

 weighs on an average about 130 lbs., he must, in order to 

 build a structure corresponding to the nest of the bird, 

 accumulate a mountain of earth which would be almost 

 double the height and Ijulk of the great pyramid of Eg3'pt ! 

 The mighty task completed, the ^vorkman confides its 

 eggs to it. The female usually lays eight, which she dis- 

 poses in a circle in the centre of the nest among the herbs 



1 One measured by Mr. Jukes was 1.50 feet iu circumference, the slope of the 

 sides IS to 24 feet, and the perpendicular height 10 or 12 feet. The eggs are as 

 large as those of a swan, and are considered a great delicacy. 



