They Are Richer Than Hens' Eggs And Of A
Finer Favour, And Each One Completely Fills An Ordinary Teacup,
And Forms With Bread Or Rice A Very Good Meal.
The colour of the
shell is a pale brick red, or very rarely pure white.
They are
elongate and very slightly smaller at one end, from four to four
and a half inches long by two and a quarter or two and a half
wide.
After the eggs are deposited in the sand, they are no further
cared for by the mother. The young birds, upon breaking the shell,
work their way up through the sand and run off at once to the
forest; and I was assured by Mr. Duivenboden of Ternate, that
they can fly the very day they are hatched. He had taken some
eggs on board his schooner which hatched during the night, and in
the morning the little birds flew readily across the cabin.
Considering the great distances the birds come to deposit the
eggs in a proper situation (often ten or fifteen miles) it seems
extraordinary that they should take no further care of them. It
is, however, quite certain that they neither do nor can watch
them. The eggs being deposited by a number of hens in succession
in the same hole, would render it impossible for each to
distinguish its own; and the food necessary for such large birds
(consisting entirely of fallen fruits) can only be obtained by
roaming over an extensive district, so that if the numbers of
birds which come down to this single beach in the breeding
season, amounting to many hundreds, were obliged to remain in the
vicinity, many would perish of hunger.
In the structure of the feet of this bird, we may detect a cause
for its departing from the habits of its nearest allies, the
Megapodii and Talegalli, which heap up earth, leaves, stones, and
sticks into a huge mound, in which they bury their eggs. The feet
of the Maleo are not nearly so large or strong in proportion as
in these birds, while its claws are short and straight instead of
being long and much curved. The toes are, however, strongly
webbed at the base, forming a broad powerful foot, which, with
the rather long leg, is well adapted to scratch away the loose
sand (which flies up in a perfect shower when the birds are at
work), but which could not without much labour accumulate the
heaps of miscellaneous rubbish, which the large grasping feet of
the Megapodius bring together with ease.
We may also, I think, see in the peculiar organization of the
entire family of the Megapodidae or Brush Turkeys, a reason why
they depart so widely from the usual habits of the Class of
birds. Each egg being so large as entirely to fill up the
abdominal cavity and with difficulty pass the walls of the
pelvis, a considerable interval is required before the successive
eggs can be matured (the natives say about thirteen days). Each
bird lays six or eight eggs or even more each season, so that
between the first and last there may be an interval of two or
three months.
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