I was so fortunate as to discover a new species (Megapodius wallacei), which
inhibits Gilolo, Ternate, and Bouru. It is the handsomest bird of the genus, being
richly banded with reddish brown on the back and wings; and it differs from the
other species in its habits. It frequents the forests of the interior, and comes down
to the sea-beach to deposit its eggs, but instead of making a mound, or scratching
a hole to receive them, it burrows into the sand to the depth of about three feet
obliquely downwards, and deposits its eggs at the bottom. It then loosely covers
up the mouth of the hole, and is said by the natives to obliterate and disguise its
own footmarks leading to and from the hole, by making many other tracks and
scratches in the neighbourhood. It lays its eggs only at night, and at Bouru a bird
was caught early one morning as it was coming out of its hole, in which several
eggs were found. All these birds seem to be semi-nocturnal, for their loud
wailing cries may be constantly heard late into the night and long before
daybreak in the morning. The eggs are all of a rusty red colour, and very large
for the size of the bird, being generally three or three and a quarter inches long,
by two or two and a quarter wide. They are very good eating, and are much
sought after by the natives.
Another large and extraordinary bird is the Cassowary, which inhabits the
island of Ceram only. It is a stout and strong bird, standing five or six feet high,
and covered with long coarse black hair-like feathers. The head is ornamented
with a large horny calque or helmet, and the bare skin of the neck is conspicuous
with bright blue and red colours. The wings are quite absent, and are replaced by
a group of horny black spines like blunt porcupine quills.
These birds wander about the vast mountainous forests that cover the island of
Ceram, feeding chiefly on fallen fruits, and on insects or crustacea. The female
lays from three to five large and beautifully shagreened green eggs upon a bed of
leaves, the male and female sitting upon them alternately for about a month. This
bird is the helmeted cassowary (Casuarius galeatus) of naturalists, and was for a
long time the only species known. Others have since been discovered in New
Guinea, New Britain, and North Australia.
It was in the Moluccas that I first discovered undoubted cases of "mimicry"
among birds, and these are so curious that I must briefly describe them. It will be
as well, however, first to explain what is meant by mimicry in natural history. At
page 205 of the first volume of this work, I have described a butterfly which,
when at rest, so closely resembles a dead leaf, that it thereby escape the attacks
of its enemies. This is termed a "protective resemblance." If however the
butterfly, being itself savoury morsel to birds, had closely resembled another
butterfly which was disagreeable to birds, and therefore never eaten by them, it