File:The Australian Museum magazine (1921) (20164313089).jpg

Title: The Australian Museum magazine
Identifier: australianmuseum1192123aust (find matches)
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Australian Museum; Australian Museum
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: Sydney, Australian Museum
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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304 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE.
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Mound of the Scrub-Fowl (Megapodius reinwardt) in the shade of a giant fig tree, growing on the edge of the jungle. (Photo.—C. Barrett. beetles. I gathered, around the bunga- low, a tube full of real beetles, and one proved to be a new species. Shells and insects alone were collected during my stay on Dunk Island. This place for years has been a sanctuary, and tabu to the man with a gun. Had I been a mammal or bird collector, " The Beach- comber "' would never have given me the freedom of his isle. But he did not forbid a modest toll of insects and mollusca. THE MOUND-BUILDERS. Of " The Beachcomber's " favourites among the bigger birds, I saw little, but I heard their curious calls, and examined several " nests." The scrub- fowl (Megapodius reinioardt) likes the sound of its own voice and is vocal both night and day. It prefers shadowy places, and I never saw one in the open. But the island birds have become con- fiding, at least when visitors are not present. Soon after I had departed, Mx. Banfield wrote, describing the " cir- cumloctuory "' gambols of scrub-fowls in the bungalow garden. This species, so remarkable for its nesting habits, is also a clown, it appears. " The Beachcomber," in his Confessions ssiys that it has no ear for music : "It seems to have been practising ' cock- a-doodle-doo ' all its life in the solitary corners and undergrowth, and to have not vet arrived within quavers of it." A mile from the bungalow, on the fringe of the forest, there is an unused mound of 31. reinwardt. It was, when I saw it, like a weather-worn hillock, and grasses and other plants were grow- ing upon the summit and slopes. Be- neath the boughs of a great fig tree (Ficus sj).), it was shado\vy and moist ; although as the sun descended, it re- received a promise of Hght. Other mounds were seen in the jungle, some distance from the sea. The birds, were heard calling near them, and one was being '" worked." SMALL FRIENDLY BIRDS. None of the island's tame-wild birds

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