bounded at each extremity by a small river with hilly ground beyond,
while the forest behind the beach itself is tolerably level and its
growth stunted. We probably have here an ancient lava stream from the
Klabat volcano, which has flowed down a valley into the sea, and the
decomposition of which has formed the loose black sand. In confirmation
of this view, it may be mentioned that the beaches beyond the small
rivers in both directions are of white sand.
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
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