THE GAME-BIRDS AND RAILS 
25 
The Megapodes and Brush-turkeys, though dull and uninteresting-looking birds, are, on 
account of the facts connected with the propagation of their species, quite remarkable. They 
do not brood over their eggs, as do other birds, but instead bury them, either in sand in 
the neighbourhood of warm springs or in heaps of decaying vegetable matter. In the latter 
case the material is often collected by several birds working together. Mounds of 8 feet high 
and 60 feet in circumference have been found, the work of the NiCOBAR MegapoDE. Such 
have been many years in use, material being added each season. Into this mass the female 
digs down and deposits an egg every second day, covering it up as soon as laid. There 
it remains till hatched, when the young, probably aided by its mother, forces its way up to 
the surface, and emerges, not a downy nestling as one would expect, but clothed with feathers 
differing but slightly in texture from those worn in the adult state. Owing to the precocious 
development, young megapodes are able to fly within an hour after birth. 
There are many different kinds of megapodes occurring in Australia, Samoa, and the 
hJicobar and Philippine Islands. 
Photo by Scholastic Photo, Co,'] 
RAZOR-BILLED CURASSOW 
photo by Scholastic Photo, Co.] 
CRESTED CURASSOW 
So called from the sharp ridge along the top of the beak 
So called from its crest of curled feathers 
The CurasSOWS and Guans are very handsome birds, but probably quite unknown to most 
•of our readers, yet they may always be seen in Zoological Gardens. They are closely re- 
lated to the megapodes, which we have just been discussing; but their nesting habits are 
■quite different. They lay their eggs in nests, either on the ground or in trees, and brood 
over them like other birds. Many have brilliantly coloured bare skin on the head and 
handsome crests. They are natives of Central and South America, where they are often 
kept by the settlers, as they tame easily. It is said that one of the guans, when crossed with 
the domesticated fowl, becomes intensely pugnacious, and superior to the game-cock for 
lighting purposes. 
Bustard-quail and Plain-wanderers 
These are small and quail-like in appearance, though they are probably only distant 
relatives of the Game-birds. But they are, nevertheless, remarkable birds. A great authority, 
Mr. A. O. Hume, writing of the Indian Bustard-quail, says of them : “ The most remarkable 
point in the life-history of these bustard-quails is the extraordinary fashion in which, amongst 
them, the position of the sexes is reversed. The females are the larger and handsomer birds. 
The females only call, the females only fight — natives say that they fight for the males, and 
probably this is true. The males . . . only ... sit upon the eggs, the females meanwhile 
larking about, calling, and fighting, without any care for their obedient mates; and, lastly, the 
males tend . . . the young brood.” 
