Didunculus strigirostris.
| 439. Gnathodon strigirostris, Jard. | [Vol. V. ] Pl. 76. |
Family MEGAPODIDÆ, G. R. Gray.
The genera Talegalla, Leipoa and Megapodius form part of a great family of birds inhabiting Australia, New Guinea, Celebes, and the Philippine Islands, whose habits and economy are most singular and differ from those of every other group of birds which now exists upon the surface of our globe. In their structure they are most nearly allied to the Gallinaceæ, while in some of their actions and in their mode of flight they much resemble the Rallidæ; the small size of their brain, coupled with the extraordinary means employed for the incubation of their eggs, indicates an extremely low degree of organization.
The three species of the family inhabiting Australia, although referable to three distinct genera, have many habits in common, particularly in their mode of nidification—each and all depositing their eggs in mounds of earth and leaves, which, becoming heated either by the fermentation of the vegetable matter, or by the sun’s rays, form a kind of natural hatching-apparatus, from which the young at length emerge fully feathered, and capable of sustaining life by their own unaided efforts.
Genus Talegalla, Less.
| 440. Talegalla Lathami | [Vol. V. ] Pl. 77. |
Inhabits all the brushes and scrubby forests of the eastern parts of Australia. Mr. M’Gillivray informs me, in a letter lately received from him, dated on board H.M.S. “Rattlesnake,” February 6th, 1848, “At Port Molle I shot in the brushes both Megapodius and Talegalla,” which proves that the range of the latter bird is much greater than I have stated.
Genus Leipoa, Gould.
Generic characters.