| 442. Megapodius tumulus, Gould | [Vol. V. ] Pl. 79. |
The following interesting account of the breeding-places of this remarkable bird has been transmitted to me by Mr. John M’Gillivray as the result of his observations on Nogo or Megapodius Island in Endeavour Straits. It will be seen that its range is more extensive than I had assigned to it:—
“The most southern locality known to me for this singular bird is Haggerston Island (in lat. 12° 3′ south), where I observed several of its mounds of very large size, but did not see any of the birds. During the survey of Endeavour Straits in H.M.S. Bramble, I was more fortunate, having succeeded in procuring both male and female on the island marked ‘Nogo’ upon the chart, where I resided for several days for that sole purpose. On this small island, not more than half a mile in length, rising at one extremity into a low rounded hill densely covered with jungle (or what in New South Wales would be called ‘brush’), three mounds, one of them apparently deserted before completion, were found. The two others were examined by Mr. Jukes and myself. The most recent, judging from the smoothness of its sides and the want of vegetable matter, was situated upon the crest of the hill, and measured 8 feet in height (or 13½ from the base of the slope to the summit) and 77 feet in circumference. In this mound, after several hours’ hard digging into a well-packed mass of earth, stones, decaying branches and leaves and other vegetable matter, and the living roots of trees, we found numerous fragments of eggs, besides one broken egg containing a dead and putrid chick, and another whole one, which proved to be addled. All were imbedded at a depth of six feet from the nearest part of the surface, at which place the heat produced by the fermentation of the mass was considerable. The egg, 3¼ by 2⅛ inches, was dirty brown, covered with a kind of epidermis, which easily chipped off, exposing a pure white surface beneath. Another mound, situated at the foot of the hill close to the beach, measured no less than 150 feet in circumference, and to form this immense accumulation of materials the ground in the vicinity had been scraped quite bare by the birds, and numerous shallow excavations pointed out whence the materials had been derived. Its form was an irregular oval, the flattened summit not being central as in the first instance, but situated nearer the larger end, which was elevated 14 feet from the ground, the slope measuring in various directions 18, 21½, and 24 feet. At Port Lihou, in a small bay a few miles to the westward, at Cape York and at Port Essington, I found other mounds which were comparatively low, and appeared to have been dug into by the natives. The great size the tumuli (which are probably the work of several generations) have attained on Haggerston and Nogo Islands arises doubtless from those places being seldom visited by the Aborigines. I found several eggs of large size in the ovarium of a female shot in August, while the condition of the oviduct showed that an egg had very recently passed; hence it is probable that, in spite of their great comparative size, one bird lays several; but whether each mound is resorted to by more than one pair, I had not the means of ascertaining.
“Few birds are more wary and less easily procured than the Megapodius; it inhabits the belts of brush along the coast, and I never found the tumulus at a greater distance from the sea than a few hundred yards. When disturbed it seldom rises at once, unless on the margin of a thicket, but runs off to some distance and then takes to wing, flying heavily, but without any of the whirring noise of the true Gallinaceæ. It seldom takes a long flight, and usually perches on a tree, remaining there in a crouching attitude with outstretched neck, but flying off again upon observing any motion made by its pursuer; and it is only by cautiously creeping up under cover of the largest trees that it can be approached within gunshot. As an example of its shyness, I may mention that a party of three persons, scattered about in a small jungle on Nogo Island, for the purpose of shooting the Megapodius, did not see a single bird, although they put up several, one of which came towards me and perched, unconscious of my presence, within 20 yards. At Port Essington I have shot this bird among mangroves, the roots of which were washed by the sea at high water; and Capt. F. P. Blackwood killed one while running on the mud in a similar locality, in both instances close to a mound. I never witnessed the escape of the young from the mound; but one, as large as a quail, and covered with feathers, was brought to Lieut. Ince by a native, who affirmed that he had dug it out along with several eggs.
“Iris yellowish brown; stomach a complete gizzard, being thick and muscular, containing small quartz pebbles, small shells (Helix and Bulimus), and black seeds; intestine 34 inches in length, of the size of a goosequill, and nearly uniform in thickness, much twisted and contracted at intervals; cæcum slender, dilated at the extremity, and 46
8 inches in length.”
Family TINAMIDÆ?, G. R. Gray.
Subfamily TURNICINÆ, G. R. Gray.
Genus Pedionomus, Gould.
Generic characters.
Bill nearly as long as the head, straight, compressed towards the tip; nostrils basal, placed in a groove, and protected by an operculum; wings short and concave, first, second and third primaries equal in length; tertiaries longer than the primaries; tail nearly obsolete; tarsi elongated and defended in front with transverse scales; toes four in number, the hinder one feeble and placed high on the tarsus.