Birds, Vol. III, No 3, March 1898

<h2><SPAN name="THE_MOUND_BIRD" id="THE_MOUND_BIRD"></SPAN>THE MOUND BIRD.</h2> <p>There are some peculiar birds in the world, and one of the strangest is the Australian Megapod, or Mound bird, that allows nature to perform the labor of hatching its eggs. In some parts of the island continent are found many mounds of considerable size and height, which the first explorers took for burial mounds. These were made by the "Megapodius Tumulus," which uses them for hatching its eggs. They have sometimes considerable dimensions. A nest that is 14 feet high and 55 feet in circumference may be regarded as large. Each Megapod builds its own nest with materials which it gathers from all sides, and these are exactly what the gardener uses in the month of March to make his forcing beds&mdash;namely, leaves and decomposing vegetable matter, which by their fermentation give off an appreciable amount of heat. In the forcing beds this heat hastens the sprouting of the seeds; in the nest it suffices for the development and hatching of the young birds, and the mother can go where she likes and occupy herself as she wishes without being troubled by the duties of sitting. In the small islands of Ninafou, in the Pacific, another bird has a somewhat similar habit, in so far as it also abandons its eggs, but in place of obtaining the necessary heat from fermentation it gets it from the warm sand. The Leipoa or native Pheasant of Australia acts like the Megapod and watches the temperature of its mound very closely, covering and uncovering the eggs several times a day to cool them or heat them, as becomes necessary. After hatching, the young bird remains in the mound several hours; it leaves on the second day, but returns for the night, and not until the third day is it able to leave for good the paternal abode.&mdash;<i>American Field.</i></p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</SPAN></span></p> <table class="sp2 mc w50" title="SCALED PARTRIDGE." summary="SKILLED PARTRIDGE."> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter"> <SPAN name="i_060.jpg" id="i_060.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%" src="images/i_060.jpg" width="600" height="451" alt="" /></SPAN></span> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">SCALED PARTRIDGE.<br/> &#8534; Life-size.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Copyright by<br/> Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w50">CHICAGO COLORTYPE CO., CHIC. &amp; NEW YORK</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr class="small" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</SPAN></span></p> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />