THE GREAT-FOOT. 
207 
cacy of their flesh, would prove useful as an article for the 
table. 
The genus Tenelope contains the Guans, which are 
smaller birds than the curassows, and much more slender. 
In these birds there is a space round the eyes, and also on 
the throat, destitute of feathers ; these naked parts are often 
brightly coloured in the living bird. 
In New Guinea and the more tropical parts of Australia 
there exists a genus of birds remarkable for the large 
mounds which the different species construct. The name 
Megapodius, or Great-foot, is applied to them from their 
strong legs and long feet, which seem to be out of propor- 
tion to the size of the birds. It is with these large strong 
feet that they collect together and heap up the mounds in 
which they deposit their eggs. Mr. Gilbert^ was the first 
to describe the habits of the curious Australian species, 
named M, tumulus by Mr. Gould. Messrs. Jukes and 
Macgillivray, during the voyage of H.M.S. Fly, found the 
same species, and saw its mounds, on one of the Possession 
Islands. One of these mounds was as much as a hundred 
and fifty feet in circumference, and its perpendicular height 
was from ten to twelve feet ; it seemed to be composed of 
* In Gould's 'Birds of Australia.' 
