Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-12-19
MOUND BUILDERS.
Hills $50 Feet i'm circumference
Constructed.
THE AUSTRALIAN TURKEYS WORK.
Gardner Birds Pieasure-Masonry of the
Camprey Eel-Glimpse of the Wood
Rats nvor VI Inatch.

Some years ago a sea captain who
was trading in the Celebes Islands re-
ceived, as he was about to sail, basket
which the messenger said contained
few eggs which he wished delivered at
the next port. The skipper placed the
eggs in his cabin for safety and thought
no more about them until one morning
he heard a noise in the basket, and to
his amazement saw one of the eggs
break open, and its occupant fly across
the cabin.
Later he learned that the bird was
the maleo, pheasant-like creature
that deposits its eggs in the volcanic
sands of the beach, allowing the sun to
hatch them. The young birds dig
their way out and are able to take
care of themselves from birth, and can
fly Immediately to limited distance
Closely related to tho maleo is n
group of birds which can be very
properly termed the mound builders of
bird life. They are tho megapodes of
New Guinea and Australia, the only
birds that use incubators to hatch their
eggs. There are number of species,
but in general they resemble small
turkeys with very large feet and are
found in the brush near the shore or
beach.
When the breeding season arrives
both sexes select suitable place and
proceed to build a mound of grass and
vegetable matter. This is accom-
plished by the birds seizing the mater
ial in thier large and powerful claws and
hurling it backward. The work of per-
haps score of bird so accumulate, and
a large-sized mound is the result, and
which, when used year after year, often
assume striking proportions.
AS an example, some naturalists who
were travelling on the Island of Nogo,
in Endeavor Straits. were attracted by
the accounts of the natives of bird
that made mountains in which to hide
it's eggs from enemies. By offering to
reward the natives, the travellers were
taken to the mound of megapode,
from which the guides triumphantly
dug out several eggs. The mound was,
if not a mountain, small bill, and
measured 150 feet in circumference,
and at one end was / 4 feet in height,
sloping in one place "a feet to the level
of the ground, which was scraped bare
in the vicinity. Another observed
was 25 feet in length and 5 feet high.
The mounds are formed of vegetabi,
matter, interspersed here and there
;tb 6pa ,,roual 1ooavad xuood ond
leaves and are artificial incubators.
The birds dig hole in the top. the
eggs being deposited about six feet from
the surface, then covered up and left
to hatch by the heat generated in the
mass, whereupon the young scramble
out, and, as rule, look out for them
selves from birth.
The Nicobar megapode constructs
similar mound, while the Talegallus
of Australia is equally remarkable as
mound builder. In this instance sew
eral females use the same nest, and as
many as basketful of eggs have been
taken from single mound. This bird
is nearly as large as turkey and re-
sembles it.
Among the birds there are a number
of mound builders, among which the
Tyre bird, SO remarkable for ventrilo-
quistic powers, may be included, form
ing a singular mound of sticks and
brush. Upon one occasion several
naturalists visited the small islands on
the Bahama banks, and came upon a
singular settlement of mounds. The
latter were about thirty inches across,
and from one to three feet high, and
looked like stools or seats rising from
the mud. They were the mound-like
nests of the flamingo.
A little bird found deep in the heart
of Borneo, called the gardener bird
erects perfect mound apparently three
or four feet high, which, wonderful to
relate, is hollow. The bird is but lit
tie larger than a robin, and builds this
mound of green twigs simply as a
pleasure house, its eggs being deposited
in a nest not far distant.
Once in polling up the st. Lawrence
/ came across large mounds in the
water. These proved to be the work Of
fishes (Semotilus. Year after year
they toiled at the mound; piling up the
stones and bringing them in their
mouths, in many instances from not a
little distance. l estimated each of
these mounds to be over a ton in
weight In shape they were cave-like.
The mounds were the nests of the
fishes, many of them depositing their
eggs in them, which were washed in
the interstices of the mound, where
the young when they appeared found
shelter.
Equally remarkable are the mound
like structures of lamprey eels. One
observed in the Saco River was fifteer
feet in length and three feet in height.
1t was formed of stones, but in larger
size than in the case Of the ST Law