CHARACTERISTIC BIRDS. 
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forms amongst them are found there. It is enough to 
mention here the Crowned Pigeons ( Caloenas nicobarica 
and Gout a coronata). Besides the most singular in this 
respect the Tooth-billed Pigeon ( Diclunculus strigirostris), 
the Crested and Bronze-winged Pigeons ( Ocyphaps , 
Geophaps), are also worthy of mention. 
The most singular forms are found among the running 
birds of the Southern Archipelago. From Sumatra 
southwards, the islands produce those extraordinary 
Gallinaceous birds called Megapodius , on account of 
their powerful feet. Their form itself is striking, and 
their habits and mode of propagation still more so. No 
creature is so careless of its young. The old legend, 
concerning the Ostrich in its youth, is quite true of this 
bird. It forms an immense heap of vegetable matter, 
and lays its eggs in them to be hatched by the heat of 
the fermenting mass. When the eggs are all laid, the 
mother gives herself no further trouble about her young, 
which have to feed and shift for themselves from the 
very first day that they are hatched. 
The Southern Archipelago has also very, many 
representatives of the Ostrich family, more, indeed, 
than any other part of the world. In Australia we 
have the Emu (. Dromaius novce hollandice), which, in 
general, very much resembles, so far as its habits 
are concerned, the African and American Ostriches. 
This bird has become familiar to us only of late years ; 
but long before, nay, almost 300 years ago, Europe 
was astounded by an account of its congener, the 
Cassowary ( Cctsuarius indicus ); and, more recently, two 
other closely-allied forms have been discovered. Unlike 
other birds of its order, the Cassowary lives in the most 
impenetrable thickets of the forest; and its habits are so 
