They Run Quickly, But When Shot At Or Suddenly
Disturbed, Take Wing With A Heavy Noisy Flight To Some Neighbouring
Tree, Where They Settle On A Low Branch; And, They Probably Roost
At Night In A Similar Situation.
Many birds lay in the same hole,
for a dozen eggs are often found together; and these are so large
that it is not possible for the body of the bird to contain more
than one fully-developed egg at the same time.
In all the female
birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides the one large one
exceeded the size of peas, and there were only eight or nine of
these, which is probably the extreme number a bird can lay in one
season.
Every year the natives come for fifty miles round to obtain these
eggs, which are esteemed as a great delicacy, and when quite fresh,
are indeed delicious. 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.
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