Fig. 43.–"Plain-Wanderer." Pedionomus torquatus. × ½.
Fam. IV. Megapodiidae.–The Megapodes, or Mound-builders, commence the section Peristeropodes (p. [186]) of the Sub-Order Galli. The bill is short, stout, and arched, though rather slender in Megapodius; the feet are exceptionally strong, and enormous for the size of the birds, Lipoa having the smallest; while the metatarsi are usually scutellated, but are reticulated anteriorly in Megacephalon, which has comparatively short and blunt claws. The abbreviated wings have ten primaries and some six secondaries. The tail is long and rounded in Talegallus and Lipoa, with upper coverts extending to the tip in the latter; it is short but still rounded in Megapodius; long and obcordate when expanded in Catheturus, Aepypodius, and Megacephalon. The rectrices number twelve in Megapodius, sixteen in Lipoa, Talegallus, and Aepypodius, eighteen in Megacephalon and Catheturus. Aepypodius possesses an erect fleshy frontal crest and a pendent caruncle at the base of the fore-neck, or even a pair of lateral outgrowths near the nape; Catheturus has a vascular neck-wattle: and Megacephalon a rounded bony casque with a tubercle behind each nostril. The fleshy growths are yellow or reddish, the horny black. In Aepypodius, Catheturus, and Megacephalon the naked head is clothed with hair-like feathers or papillae; Lipoa and some species of Megapodius have a short dense crest; others have the head almost entirely feathered, others again nearly bare except the occipital and nuchal region, as in Talegallus. The naked skin may be red, yellow, orange, purplish, grey, or pale blue; the bill and feet are black, brown, olive, yellow, red, orange, horn- or parti-coloured. The furcula is Y-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the tongue sagittate, the gizzard muscular, and the aftershaft small. The size varies from that of a Turkey to that of a large Pigeon, the sexes being invariably similar.
Megapodes are shy terrestrial birds found in hill-valleys, among thickets near rivers or the sea, or on gravelly and sandy beaches. Upon the ground their gait is not ungraceful, while they run well, and only take to the wing when hard pressed; if disturbed they usually seek the lowest branches of the neighbouring trees, hopping gradually to the higher limbs; the flight is heavy, but can carry them from island to island. Always difficult of observation they are rarely seen in company, yet the larger breeding mounds are no doubt used by more pairs than one. Hoarse croaks or clucks are uttered in the day-time, mewing notes or noisy cackles at night; the food consists of fallen fruit, seeds, berries, worms, snails, insects, and even crabs. The brownish-red, salmon-coloured or whitish eggs, at least as large as those of the domestic duck, are deposited either in mounds constructed of soil and vegetable matter, or in holes made in sandy or shingly ground; the decaying vegetation or the sun's heat producing the effect of an artificial incubator, and making parental aid needless. The young extricate themselves readily from the superincumbent soil, being hatched in a feathered condition, and flying almost immediately. The flesh is dark and usually unpalatable.
Though mainly confined to the Australian Region, where it extends eastwards to Ninafou and Samoa, the Family reaches westward to the Nicobars, and northward to the Philippines and Ladrones, replacing the Pheasants within these limits–save for the Philippines–just as the Cracidae do in Neotropical countries. No species is yet recorded from Sumatra or Java, and confirmation is needed in the case of the main island of Borneo.
Megacephalon maleo of North Celebes and the Sanghir Islands is glossy blackish-brown, with salmon-pink breast and belly, a vaulted tail, a black casque of cellular tissue, and dusky bill and feet. The Maleo, as it is called, inhabits hilly country, but resorts in hundreds to sloping gravelly beaches to breed, holes being scratched or dug just above high-water mark, some four or five feet in diameter. In these from two to eight pale brownish-red eggs are laid, about six inches apart–at intervals, it is said, of a fortnight or so–several females occasionally using one cavity.
Aepypodius bruijni of Waigiou is brownish-black, with chestnut rump and breast, dusky bill and feet; a fleshy papillose crest adorns the head, and three wattles–one median and two lateral–occur on the neck, all probably red in life. Ae. arfakianus of New Guinea is black above and brownish below, with no lateral wattles.
Catheturus lathami, the "Brush Turkey" of Eastern Australia, is blackish-brown with greyish under surface, shewing conspicuous light margins to the feathers. It has a bright yellow neck-wattle, reddish head and neck, black bill and brown feet. This species forms mounds of earth and decayed leaves, sometimes as much as six feet high and fourteen feet in diameter at the base, and covers the coarse outer layers with fresh leaves and sticks. The central portion is hollowed out like a cup, successive layers of eggs being deposited from the circumference inwards in concentric circles, and the earth gradually filled in above them. Several females sometimes utilize the same mound, each being said to lay an egg every second day. These eggs, placed with the small end downwards, number from twenty to nearly forty, and are of a long pointed oval shape and of a white colour with minute granulations. The site is usually a level clearing among scrub, whither the materials are conveyed by being repeatedly thrown backwards by the feet, while the cock possibly assists in building.[[149]] Talegallus cuvieri, of Western New Guinea, Salwatti, Mysol and Gilolo, is black with whitish throat; the naked parts are red-brown, the bill and feet reddish-orange and yellow respectively. T. fuscirostris, of South and East New Guinea, with the Aru Islands, differs in its grey-black bare areas and brown bill; T. jobiensis, of Jobi Island and East New Guinea, has the bill, feet, and naked skin red. The habits resemble those of Catheturus: the mounds, which reach an internal temperature of 93° F., are sometimes eleven feet high; the eggs are reddish with a chalky incrustation.
Fig. 44.–"Brush Turkey." Catheturus lathami. × ⅙.
Lipoa ocellata, the Native Pheasant or Mallee Hen of South and West Australia, has grey and brown upper parts, with black, buff, and white markings, which form eyes on the wings and back. The breast is grey with a median black and white line, the remaining lower parts being whitish with a rufous tinge. The naked parts are pale blue, the bill and feet brown. This bird frequents both open parts of the "brushes" and dense thickets, while in manners it differs but little from the members of the last two genera. The mounds–usually in close proximity–are, however, smaller as a rule, and are stated to be used by single hens, a fact no doubt true in many cases. The six to eight eggs, which are pinkish-white, but become red-brown in a few days, are very fragile, as in other Megapodes. The natives say that an egg is deposited daily, the discrepancy between Lipoa and Megacephalon being in this respect very remarkable, but conflicting assertions are only what may be expected where several females lay together, and further investigation should easily decide the question.