MEGAPODIUS. 
283 
and seldom if ever seen elsewhere. Their noisy cackling at night 
frequently disturbed us when encamped near one of their favorite 
resorts ; and during the day their hoarse note at once betrays 
their presence. On the Herbert River they are not much sought 
after as an article of food, either by the natives or whites, for as 
their eggs are esteemed a delicacy, the birds themselves are not 
much molested. I examined several nests in March; and 
although it was not the regular breeding season, yet fresh eggs 
were obtained, and newly hatched young were found singly here 
and there throughout the denser parts of the brushes. Some of 
the mounds were very ruthlessly destroyed by the whites, and 
scattered over the ground, this however, did not cause the birds 
to forsake the place, and out of one large mound which had 
been very roughly handled, two now ones were formed about ten 
yards apart, on the base of the old one, which was so matted and 
interlaced with roots from the neighbouring trees that it appeared 
to me a marvel how the birds could burrow into it the great length 
they did ; and having once laid their eggs there, however the 
young birds found their way out through the maze of roots is still 
a mystery. Once out however and their wings dry they are able 
to take care of themselves, but remain about the mounds for a 
day or so, as if waiting for some of their companions, but in less 
than a week from the day they are hatched, they may frequently 
be seen at least quarter of a mile away, and well able to ily about. 
I met one little fellow, only 5-5 inches in total length, fully a mile 
away from the nearest mound, ho flew up and settled in a tree, 
about twenty feet from the ground, the wings and feet were 
remarkably developed for so small a bird, which could be scarcely 
more than four weeks old. Upon more than one occasion I have 
seen the birds busy at their mound, or feeding near it, but was 
never so fortunate as to meet with them in the act of burrowin':. 
The largest mound I met with was about fifty feet in length, ten 
in height, and fourteen feet in width at the base, eight or ten on 
the summit. It seemed to bo more like several mounds combined; 
and certainly more than two pairs of birds frequented it. While 
stationed, gun in hand, watching for Cassowaries (Casuaria 
