The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

204 THE JIALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.In all the female birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides theone large one exceeded the size of peas, and there were onlyeight or nine of these, whicli is probably the extreme number abird can lay in one season.Every year the natives come for fifty miles round to obtainthese eggs, which are esteemed a great delicacj^, and when quitefresh are indeed delicious. They are riclier tlian hens' eggs andof a finer flavour, and each one completely tills an ordinary teacup,and foi'ms with bi'ead or rice a very good meal. Thecolour of the shell is a pale brick red, or very rarely pure white.They are elongate and very slightly smaller at one end, fromfour to four and a half inches long by two and a quarter or twoand a half wide.After the eggs are deposited in the sand they are no furthercared for by the mother. The young birds on breaking theshell, work their way wp througli the sand and run oft' at once tothe forest ; and I was assured by ^Mr. Duivenboden of Ternate,that they can fly the very day they are hatched. He had takensome eggs on board his schooner which hatched during thenight, and in the moi'ning the little birds flew readily across thecabin. Considering the great distances the birds come todeposit the eggs in a proper situation (often ten or fifteenmile.s) it seems extraordinary that they should take no furthercare of them. It is, however, quite certain that they neither donor can watch them. The eggs being deposited by a number ofhens in succession in the same hole, would render it impossiblefor each to distinguish its own;and the food necessary for suchlarge birds (consisting entirely of fallen fruits) can only beobtained by roaming over an extensive district, so that if tlienumbers of birds which come down to this single beach in thebreeding season, amounting to many hundreds, were obliged toremain in the A'icinity, many would perish of hunger.In the structure of the feet of this bird, we may detect acause for its departing from the habits of its nearest allies, theMegapodii 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 proportionas in these birds, while its claws ai'e short and sti'aightinstead 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 awaythe loose sand (which flies up in a perfect shower when the birdsare at work), but which could not without much labour accumulatethe heaps of miscellaneous rubbish, which the largegrasping feet of the Megapodius bring together with ease.We may also, I think, see in the peculiar organization of theentire family of the Megapodidse or Brusli Turkeys, a reasonwhy they depart so widely from the usual habits of the Class ofbirds. Each egg being so large as entirely to fill up the abdominalcavity and with difficulty pass the walls of tlie pelvis,