Megapowid/e. BIRDS. The Mound-biko. 395 
belly and the tips of the tail-feathers white ; the head 
is not crested, and the true bill is red. This bird is an 
inhabitant of Mexico ; in its habits it resembles tlie 
preceding species. 
THE CRESTED GUAli {Penelope cristata), an inhabi- 
tant of Guiana and Brazil, is about the same size as the 
Curassow, and is of a blackish-bronze colour, glossed 
with green, with the neck and breast spotted with 
white, and the bell}^ and legs, the rump, and lower 
tail-coverts reddish. The head is adorned with a thick 
crest, which the bird can elevate or depress at pleasure. 
The base of the u})per mandible is covered with a cere, 
and the cheeks and throat are naked ; the latter being 
furnished with a large pendant wattle, capable of 
dilatation. The cheeks are violet, and the wattle of 
the throat scarlet. 
This remarkable bird is found in small flocks in the 
forests, where it feeds chiefly upon seeds and fruits, 
which it seeks upon the ground ; it walks and runs 
with great ease and rapidity, but flies low and heavily. 
According to Vieillot, this bird and its allies drink in 
the same way as the pigeon. Its note resembles the 
syllable pi, uttered in a sharp tone. 
Faiiii.y IL— MBGAPODIIDiE. 
In the birds of this family, which are all inhabitants 
of the islands of the Eastern archipelago and of Aus- 
tralia, we find a considerable analogy with those which 
have just been described, especial!}' in the position of the 
hind toe, which in these, as in the preceding birds, is 
placed on the same level as the anterior toes, so that 
its whole lower surface is applied to the ground in 
walking. The Megapodiidae also have tlie legs naked 
a little way above the heel or articulation of the tarsus 
with the tibia, a character which likewise occurs in 
some of the Cracidse. They have a stout arched bill, 
with the tip rather obtuse ; their wings are rather 
short and rounded, and their feet large and powerful, 
indicating strictly terrestrial habits. The tarsi and 
toes are covered with scales. 
The habits of these birds are most singular. They 
deposit their eggs in a heap of sand, or an accumula- 
tion of dead leaves, and trust to the heat of the sun, 
assisted in the latter case by the warmth produced by 
the decay of the vegetable matter, to maintain the 
temperature necessary for the evolution of the young. 
THE MOUND-BIRD {Megapodim tumulus), called 
the Jungle-fowl by the Australian colonists, is an 
inliabitant of the north coast of Australia, where it was 
discovered by Mr. Gilbert in the vicinity of Port 
Essington. It is of the size of an ordinary fowl, and 
has the upper surface dark cinnamon-brown, with the 
back of the neck dark gray, which is also the colour of 
the lower surface of the body ; the head is furnished 
with a rather short, jiointed, occipital crest ; the upper 
and lower tail-coverts are dark brown, and the tail 
itself blackish ; the bill and feet are reddish. 
• Mr. Gilbert was led to the discovery of this species 
by observing at Port Essington numerous groat mounds 
of earth, which the colonists asserted to be ancient 
tumuli of thp natives. The latter, on the contrary, 
assured him that these elevations were formed by 
the Jungle-fowl for the purpose of hatching its egg-^; 
an assertion which afterwards proved to be correct. 
On another part of the. shore of Port Essington, in the 
midst of a thicket, he met with a mound of sand and 
shells, of a conical form, measuring about twenty feet 
in circumference at the base, and five feet in lioight, 
and at the top of this he found a young bird in a hole 
about two feet deep, lying on a few withered leaves. 
The old birds appear to excavate from the top of the hill, 
directing the course of their burrow obliquely, so that, 
although the eggs may be at a considerable distance 
from the summit, they are within two feet of the sur- 
face. After the deposition of the egg the hole is lightly 
filled up with the excavated materials, and the natives 
can detect the existence of a new laid egg, by observing 
the marks of the old bird’s feet upon the top of the 
mound, when they ascertain the direction of the hole 
by pushing a stick down through the light earth. They 
even state that they can determine the length of time 
that has elapsed since the deposition of the egg, by the 
greater or less degree of resistance presented to the 
passage of the stick. The size of the mound is often 
enormous ; Mr. Gilbert mentions one fifteen feet in 
height and sixty in circumference, which was entirely 
composed of the richest light vegetable mould. On 
extracting an egg from this mound, at a depth of five 
feet, Mr. Gilbert found that the surrounding materials 
felt quite warm to the hands, and as this, like all the 
other mounds seen by him, was completely protected 
from the rays of the sun by the thick trees surrounding 
it, it is evident that the warmth required for hatching 
the eggs must be produced in the interior of the mass 
of materials. The mounds are found in various situa- 
tions, and differ greatly in their form and the materials 
of which the}' are composed ; but it is remarkable that 
in some rocky situations they are found to consist ot 
the same vegetable mould as the one above mentioned, 
from which Mr. Gilbert concludes that the birds must 
collect all the dead leaves they can find, and that the 
mounds must be the work of many birds, and accu- 
mulated during a considerable j)eriod of time, in order 
to allow the leaves to become converted into mould. 
The natives assert that no more than one pair of birds 
are ever seen upon a mound at the same time, and this is 
in accordance with Mi’. Gilbert’s observations; they also 
state that the eggs are laid at night, and always placed 
perpendicularly, both of which statements Mr. Gilbert 
believed to be true. 
FREYCINET’S MANKIRIO {Megapodius Frcycineti) 
— Plate 20, fig. 75. The other species of the genus 
Megapodim are inhabitants of the great group of 
Asiatic islands, where they follow the same habits of 
life as the Australian species just described. The pre- 
sent species is met with in Banda, and in the Papuan 
islands of Waigiou and Guebe, where it is common. 
It is thirteen inches in length, and of a black colour, 
with the neck nearly naked, and the bill and feet ful- 
vous, the former having the tip white. 
THE OCELLATED LEIPOA {Leipoa ocellata), called 
the Native Pheasant by the Australian colonists, is a 
large bird, measuring nearly two feet in length, and is 
of a more graceful form than the Megapodius. It has 
the top of the head furnished with a crest of slender 
