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. Now, if these eggs were hatched in the ordinary way, either the
parents must keep sitting continually for this long period, or if they only began
to sit after the last egg was deposited, the first would be exposed to injury by the
climate, or to destruction by the large lizards, snakes, or other animals which
abound in the district; because such large birds must roam about a good deal in
search of food. Here then we seem to have a case in which the habits of a bird
may be directly traced to its exceptional organization; for it will hardly be
maintained that this abnormal structure and peculiar food were given to the
Megapodidae in order that they might not exhibit that parental affection, or
possess those domestic instincts so general in the Class of birds, and which so
much excite our admiration.