The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1889-01-18

Habits OF the Mhiao. Queer crcasurs
round IN the Eastern seas.


Found IN tho Eastern Seas.
The maleo IS Shout the size Of small
turkey, and not unlike one In appear
ance. and belongs to the family OF meg
dpotles, or ..big-feet,r which are also
called '.mound-builders.
These latter are gallinaceous birds
(as are our common fowls or pheas-
ants), which are found in Australia and
Papua, or New Guinea, and which lay
their eggs. and then scratch up and
carry Immense quantities OF sticks,
leaves and earth over them, SO that the
heat of fermentation under hot sun,
hatches them. These birds lfave all
immense feet, well adapted for such
purpose, two or three times as large in
proportion as those of our turkeys.
Instead OF using leaves and sticks and
sand, the malice Of Celebes uses the
gravel Of tho sea-beach alone TO hatch
its eggs, and these eggs are extremely
large in proportion to the size of the
bird
They do not make regular mounds.
like their cousins, the megapodes OF
Australia. but the whole beach shows
a series OF elevations and depressions.
like rough, confused sea. Contrary
TO what we should imagine. the very
large eggs are not found at the very
bottom of the depressions, nor on the
summit of the mound Of gravel, but in
shallow trenches, and on the slopes of
the irregular hummocks.
The natives of the island understand
perfectly how TO find them, by probing
In the gravel with flexible. delicate
stick. Ii the egg has been lately laid,
and just covered. the gravel is very lit
tie packed, and easy to penetrate with
the stick, Then the gravel is scraped
away-the stick used again-and so
the egg is reached at last
1t is often three or four feet below
the surface Of the mound. The heat OF
the beach, however. on which the trop-
ical sun is ever shining. matches the
eggs at this depth; for. after they are
once deposited and covered up. this
parent birds take no more notice OF
them.
The male birds, as well as the hens.
dig up the gravel TO form the mounds,
anu ND DAtAbCA A<At Al AGAACNA
showers; and they do this in an odd
way. and not scratching alternately.
with both feet, like common fowls The
maleo poises himself on one leg. and
gives rapid digs with the other, the
large foot, slightly webbed at the base
of the toes, being as large and effective
rs mans hand.
A14tr,,rr1. a H.
Marchesa found the curious birds In
| great numbers upon the seashore, they
could only get Them by creeping uT
quite close, and then running in and
shouting; when. instead of running of,
they took to their wings and perched
upon the forest trees which formed a
belt along the beach. Here they seemed
to think themselves perfectly safe, and
one can be shot at time, without put
ting to fight the others. They were
| found to be delicious eating. and then
skins. being unique, most valuable fol
| stutfing. for museums and collections.
The maleo's egg is huge, in proper.
ton to the size of the body. and some
days elapses between the laying; anI
the question is. why should the egg b,
so disproportionate to the size of tn,
bird9
| The theory OF Doctor Guillemard. tn,
| naturalist who describes them, is tha
the eggs of these birds would be ex
posed to much risk if in an open nest
while buried as they are they are com
paratively safe. He says that th'
| weight OF such a mass of gravel mus
be taken into consideration. when
will be seen that no chick of ordinar,
size could force its way through it Il
the surface. Hence the necessity OF
large egg and powerful chick; or. il
other words, the curious habit has bee
adopted for the preservation of the spe
cies.- Golden Days.