It is in this loose, hot, black sand that those singular birds, the "Maleos"
deposit their eggs. In the months of August and September, when there is little or
no rain, they come down in pairs from the interior to this or to one or two other
favourite spots, and scratch holes three or four feet deep, just above high-water
mark, where the female deposits a single large egg, which she covers over with
about a foot of sand—and then returns to the forest. At the end of ten or twelve
days she comes again to the same spot to lay another egg, and each female bird
is supposed to lay six or eight eggs during the season. The male assists the
female in making the hole, coming down and returning with her. The appearance
of the bird when walking on the beach is very handsome. The glossy black and
rosy white of the plumage, the helmeted head and elevated tail, like that of the
common fowl, give a striking character, which their stately and somewhat sedate
walk renders still more remarkable. There is hardly any difference between the
sexes, except that the casque or bonnet at the back of the head and the tubercles
at the nostrils are a little larger, and the beautiful rosy salmon colour a little
deeper in the male bird; but the difference is so slight that it is not always
possible to tell a male from a female without dissection. 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. 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