M E G A P O D I U S T U M U L U S , a * t
Mound-rajsing- Megapode.
Megapoiim tumulus; öf Zöbt/Soc:,~ February 8/1 g il. I
OoorejoojySy'AlioriginèVoftBfcGa^fgT^^bsulC'' ’ ~
Juiüfle-f ml;;Cölonisïi öf Port Essington."
W É d'scpvjig-^ a.spe cies of Megapodm jn-Auatralia as soon as the northern portions of the country
shoiild .bo^jihjecXejh^tOj'a careful investigation, ig no more than might have been e je c te d , considering that
Al »'I'liim i md rf cA jrf f,,, islinds arerththreat.nursery;dfthis extraordinary tribe ofbirds.
Y h^ ’^ Mee afi»'lms Tumulus h r s t ^ ^ e undcr^my^observation I conceived i t f e be the M . rubripes of
. '■ 11 ‘^ ^ ^ i l l t a d e i a m i n e d specimens of that specjps in the Museums pf Paris and
8^ ‘ÈS)JSI‘5 ^ ^ i 6li § 8 ^ Ö 8 muc^ greater Sire and more than proportionately
powexful_|egs^are .amqng.the s p e c if d iffe re n c e ^ y ^ .w ill be observable by those who may feel disposed U>
institute ^--comparison. Interesting asgthjs birdappstihejo every naturalist; to myself-it is peculiarly so,
- since th e valuable note^oMts>'habits:^ro é c 6 n&my,iwhich^Sigp'ily-ri am-renabled to giye folly confirm all
thaM had prcviousl^asS^^i respecting ih(^<-ïmS"üdm uTino(l^i>iTirubation of the Talegutla, verifying
tlle I 'l/e .More expressed,.that M egapodw^TalegfUa^and Leipoa areraost nearly allied genera
^forming part of a great birds, whose. r a n l e ^ M e found, to extend from the Philippmes through
..the islands of the Jndian ArcMpel^gp. to Australia, :
,%eThe Megapodius Tumulus ig^bhenriumerously spread ovV'the'whcde '-of- the-Gobourg Peninsula on the
••north"chj | | j | f the'Australian^ ^ ^ ^ ^ g r e the^riffglpsettlement ^ ^ r t'E s s in g to n is now established;
future, r ^M c ^ g P d ^ b t l ê s s ”r e q ^ 0 mJoiVsiignto i^ S u c h 'w id e r range, probably over the whole extent
of thg;aoym^cóas$.'
^ts habits is taken frqui, 5feft(^lj^|t!s^iiptes; and, novel and extraordinary as
.jny d e s s p p ^ tb p se^ f \TalegaIla and Leipoa-may have heen-tconsidered, this will be read with even
•greater ^interest'. <s • V?
my^tengoji-w&s attracted to numerous immense moundsifof earth, which were pointed out
to me hy spmë;of the residents as the tumuli of the aborigines; on:the ..other,’ hand I was assured by the natives that they were
.formed by the Jimgle-fowl for thé purpose $ incubating its eggs: their statement appeared so.extraordinary, and so much at variance
•with the general habits of birds, that no one in the settlement belieyed’tiiem, jor took sufficient interest in the matter to ra»™;™
.the .mpnhdsi and thus to verify .or rê&fte their accounts ,vahdffier; circumstance .which; induced a dqub{r of their veracity, was the
great size of the egg$:brpugT|fe igby the natives as those offhis bird. Aware that the eggs of Leipoa were hatched in a similar
jffian&er, my attention was immediately arrested by tbes^adl^te,' ,and I aé phc^ determined'-to ascertain all I possibly could
■*resppcja?igiiq singular a,feature:id' th e^ p ’s economy ;bandhavingiprdcurbd^the assistance óf, a,very intelligent native, who under-
took to /g q ^ ^ g to the different- places resorted to by the bird, I proceeded on the sixteenth 'of/Noveipber to Knocker’s Bay, a part
iofd’orkE^smgtPd. Hajhour;,caippar|^^yrhnt&h.tttëikno\TO, .and where I had,been informed a numberof tbese-birds were always tp •
be seen. I landed beside a tbicke^ina|^^n,gt pro^ecdbdgfar from the shore-.ere I came to a mound of sand and shells,,with.a
•fhghb4xnixtöre'.pf black soil, the base reëttn^pn'.a- sandy heaeh,ihnt^^|f^,above high water mark; it was enveloped in the
large yellow-blossomed Hibiscus, was of aSconical form,- twenty feet in circumference at the base, ! and about five feet in height On
pointing it out to the native and asking him.what it .was, he Oooregoorga! Rambal, ’ Jungle-fowls’ house or nest. I then
.scrambled up the sides ofhrJhd to my extreme dpjfightfound a young bird in ahold about,two feet deep; it was lying on a few dry
withered leaves,. onjy a'few dayslo]|^ 'Sp far hwas, satisfied that these mounds had some connexion with the
bird’s mode of incubation; but_I'was still sceptical as to the probability of these young birds ascending fromjsg.great a depth as the
natives represented, and-'my suspicions were confirmedity^my beingunébw|p |nduc&the native, in this instance, to search for the
eggs, ;his accuse being that ‘ he Knew i£ w o ^ g of no use, as he saw no traces of the old birds having recently been there.’ : I took
the utmost carseof the younghircl; in ten d in ^® a r it if possible; I therefore obtained a'moderately sized box, and placed in it a large
portion of sand As it fed rather freely on bruised Indian com I was m full hopes of succeeding? but it proved of so wild and intractable
a disposition that it would1 npfrgpQB^m^sdf-t(vk»rch close confinement, and effected its escape on the third day. During
the period it remained in captivity it was incessantly occupied in scratching up sanddnto heaps; and'the rapidity with which it
threw the sand from one end of the box te the.rdflré^was^mte, surprising fop^yqungland smaffuadji^ats size not being larger than
that of.a small quail. At night it Was so restless that I wag constantly kept awakp ]?y the nöise it made in its endeavours to escape.
In scratching up the sand it, only used one foot, and having gl|jfeed a handful ak if were, the sand was thrown behind it, with but
little apparent exertion, and without shifting its standing^po^ition on the other fegj^fiiis habit- seemed to $e%e result of an innate
yestless disposition, and a 4 1 |p to,use its powerful feet, and to have but htfl^Mnhembn with its feedingfor although Indian com
was mixed with the sa^d/ J neyer, ^feepted the bird .ip r$d ti^aq y of it upylïüe, thus employed.
1 conttnuedTto receivethe having an seeing tbem^alfeen from the mound until the Sixth of February,
when on again visiting Knocker’s Bay 1 had thé gratification- of seeing two taken from'd'.Sépth of six feet, in one of the largest
mounds I had then seen. In this instance the holes ran down in an Oblique direction from the centre towards the outer slope of the
hillock, so that although the eggs were six feet deep-Jrom the summit, they were only two^or %ee feet from the side. The birds are
said to lay but a single egg in each hole, and after the egg is deposited the earth is immediately thrown down lightly until the hole
is filled up; the upper part of the mound is then smoothed and rounded over. It is easily known when a Jungle-fowl has been
recently excavating, from the distinct impressions of ite feg^n, the top and sides of the mound, and the earth being so lightly
tlu?own£over, that with, a slender stick the direction of the hole is readily detected, the ease or difficulty of thrusting the stick down
indicating the length of time tbatimby have elapsed since the bird’s operations^ Thus far it is easy enough; but to reach the eggs
requires no little exertiofl aqd pqgseversnqe; .The natives dig them up v£ti|>|be5 ; hands alone, and only make sufficient room