The Castaways

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TEN.

  BURROWING BIRDS.

  The fruit diet, however delicious, was not strengthening. Saloo saidso, and Murtagh agreed with him. The Irishman declared he would ratherhave a meal of plain "purtatees and buttermilk," though a bit of bacon,or even ship's "junk," would be more desirable.

  All agreed that a morsel of meat--whether salted or fresh--would behighly beneficial; indeed, almost necessary to the complete restorationof their strength.

  How was animal food to be procured? The forest, so far as CaptainRedwood had explored it, seemed altogether untenanted by livingcreature. He had now been tramping for upwards of an hour among thetrees without seeing either bird or quadruped. And although there werefish in the stream, and should have been shell-fish along the sea-beach,neither Murtagh nor Saloo had succeeded in procuring any. A keencraving for animal food had grown upon them, and they were not withoutsome regretful thoughts at having permitted the dead gavial to drift outto sea. Even from the carcass of the saurian they might have obtainedsteaks that, if not very dainty or delicate, would at least have beeneatable.

  Discouraged by their want of success, and still feeling feeble, they didnot go out again that day, but remained resting under the tree.

  While they were munching their evening meal--of durions, as the dinnerhad been--the Malay commenced discoursing upon eggs, which set them allthinking about them. If they only had a few, it would be just the verything to nourish and give them strength. But where were the eggs to beobtained? This was the question asked him by the Irishman, who could atthat moment have eaten a dozen, boiled, fried, poached, in omelette, oreven, as he said himself, have "sucked" them.

  "Iggs indade!" he exclaimed, as Saloo made mention of the article; "I'dloike to see one, an could ate a basketful of them, if they were as bigas swans'. What puts iggs in your head, nigger?"

  "Eggs no long way off," rejoined the Malay. "Plenty egg if we knoweewhale find 'em."

  "How do you know that? Ye're ravin', Saloo."

  "No lavin, Multa. You heal lass night the malee? All night longee hecly wail."

  "Hear the malee. What's that?"

  "Biggee fowl like tulkey. Saloo heal him. Make moan likee man go die."

  "Och, thair was that, thrue enough. I heerd something scramin' all thenight. I thought it might be a banshee, if thair is that crayther inthis counthry. A bird, you say? What of that? Its squalling won'tgive us any iggs, nor lade to its nest nayther."

  "Ness not belly fal way. Malee make ness in sand close to sea-shole.Mollow mornin' I go lookee, maybe findee."

  All throughout the previous night they had heard a voice resoundingalong the shore in loud, plaintive wailings, and Captain Redwood hadremarked its being a strange note to him, never having heard the likebefore. He believed the cries to come from some species of sea-fowlthat frequented the coast, but did not think of the probability of theirnests being close at hand. As day broke he had looked out for them inhopes of getting a shot. Even had they been gulls, he would have beenglad of one or two for breakfast. But there were no birds in sight, noteven gulls.

  Saloo now told them that the screams heard during the night did not comefrom sea-fowl, but from birds of a very different kind, that had theirhome in the forest, and only came to the sea-coast during their seasonof breeding; that their presence was for this purpose, and thereforedenoted the proximity of their nests.

  While they were yet speaking on the subject, their eyes were suddenlyattracted to a number of the very birds about which they were inconverse. There was quite a flock of them--nearly fifty in all. Theywere not roosted upon the trees, nor flying through the air, butstepping along the sandy beach with a sedate yet stately tread, justlike barn-door fowl on their march toward a field of freshly-sown grain,here and there stooping to pick up some stray seed. They were about thesize of Cochin-Chinas, and from their flecked plumage of glossy blackand rose-tinted white colour, as well as from having a combed orhelmeted head, and carrying their tails upright, they bore a verystriking resemblance to a flock of common hens.

  They, in fact, belonged to an order of birds closely allied to thegallinaceous tribe, and representing it on the continent of Australia asalso in several of the Austro-Malayan islands, where the truegallinaceae do not exist. There are several distinct species of them;some, as the _tallegalla_ or "brush turkey" of Australia, approaching inform and general appearance to the turkey, while others resemble thecommon fowl, and still others might be regarded as a species ofpheasant. They have the singular habit of depositing their eggs inmounds of rubbish, which they scrape together for this purpose, and thenleave them to what might appear a sort of spontaneous incubation. Hencethey are usually called "mound-builders," though they do not all adhereto the habit; some of them choosing a very different though somewhatanalogous mode of getting their eggs hatched. Naturalists have giventhem the name of _megapoda_, on account of their very large feet, which,provided with long curved claws, enable them to scratch the grounddeeply and rake together the rubbish into heaps for the safe deposit oftheir eggs.

  Sometimes these megapodes, as the Australians call them, for they are ascommon in Australia as Borneo, raise heaps of fifteen feet in height,and not less than sixty feet in circumference at the base.

  They are large and heavy birds, unwieldy in their motions, slow andlumbering in their flight. Their legs are thick, and their toes arealso thick and long.

  There is some difference between their nest-building ways and those ofthe tallegalla; yet, on the whole, the similarity is very striking, asmay be seen from the following account.

  Tracing a circle of considerable radius, says Mr Wood, the birds beginto travel round it, continually grasping with their large feet theleaves, and grasses, and dead twigs which are lying about, and flingingthem inwards towards the centre. Each time they finish their roundsthey narrow their circle, so that they soon clear away a large circularbelt, having in its centre a low, irregular heap. By repeating theoperation they decrease the _diameter_ of the mound while increasing its_height_, until at length a large and rudely conical mound is formed.

  Next they scrape out a cavity of about four feet in the middle of theheap, and here deposit the eggs, which are afterwards covered up, to behatched by the combined effects of fermentation and the sun. But thebird does not thus escape any of the cares of maternity, for the malewatches the eggs carefully, being endowed with a wonderful instinctwhich tells him the temperature suitable for them. Sometimes he coversthem thickly with leaves, and sometimes lays them nearly bare, repeatingthese operations frequently in the course of a single day.

  The eggs at last are hatched, but when the young bird escapes from theshell it does not leave the mound, remaining therein for at least twelvehours. Even after a stroll in the open air it withdraws to its moundtoward evening, and is covered up, like the egg, only not to so great adepth. It is a singular fact that in all cases a nearly cylindricalhole, or shaft, is preserved in the centre of the heap, obviouslyintended to admit the cooling air from without, and to allow of theescape of the gases fermenting within.

  In each nest as much as a bushel of eggs is frequently deposited. Asthese are of excellent flavour, they are quite as much esteemed by thewhite man as by the aborigine. The tallegalla has a habit of scratchinglarge holes in the ground while dusting itself, says Mr Wood, after themanner of gallinaceous birds; and these holes often serve to guide theegg-hunter towards the nest itself.

  After this digression let us return to the megapodes of Borneo, whoseappearance had strongly excited the curiosity of Captain Redwood and hisparty.

  The birds that had now displayed themselves to the eyes of our party ofcastaways were of the species known as "maleos," by Saloo called malee.They had not just then alighted, but came suddenly into view around thespur of a "dune," or sand-hill, which up to that moment had hinderedthem from being observed.

  As the spectators were quietly reclining under the obscure shadow of thetree, the birds did not
notice them, but stalked along the shore abouttheir own business.

  What this business was soon became apparent; for although one or anotherof the birds made occasional stop to pick up some worm, weed, or seed,it was evident they were not making their evening promenade in search offood. Now and again one would dart quickly away from the flock, runningwith the swiftness of a pheasant, then suddenly stop, survey the groundin every direction, as if submitting it to examination, and finally,with a cackling note, summon the others to its side. After this ageneral cackle would spring up, as if they were engaged in someconsultation that equally regarded the welfare of all.

  It was noticed that those taking the initiative in these prospectingrushes and summonings, differed a little from the others. The casque orbonnet-shaped protuberance at the back of their heads was larger, aswere also the tubercles at their nostrils; the red upon their nakedcheeks was of brighter and deeper hue; while their plumage was gayer andmore glossy, the rufous-white portion of it being of a more pronouncedrose or salmon colour. These were the male birds or "cocks" of theflock, though the difference between them and the hens was much lessthan that between chanticleer and the ladies of his barn-yard harem, andonly noticeable when they drew very near to the spectators.

  They were still two hundred yards from the spot where the latter laywatching them, and by the direction in which they were going it was notlikely they would come any nearer. Captain Redwood had taken hold ofthe musket, intending to load it with some slugs he chanced to have, andtry a long shot into the middle of the flock; but Saloo restrained himwith a word or two spoken in a whisper. They were,--

  "Don't try shot, cappen. Too long way off. You miss all. Maybe theygo lookee place for billy eggs. Much betta we waitee while."

  Thus cautioned, the captain laid aside the gun, while they all remainedsilently watching the maleos, which continued their course, with itsvarious divergences, still unconscious of being observed.

  When they were nearly in front of the camping-place, at a spot where thesand lay loose and dry, above the reach of the ordinary tidal influx,all made a stop at the summons of one who, from the superior style ofhis plumage and the greater grandeur of his strut, appeared a veryimportant individual of the tribe--in all likelihood the "cock of thewalk."

  Here a much longer period was spent in the cackling consultation, whichat length came to an end, not as before in their passing on to anotherplace, but by the whole flock setting to, and with their great clawedfeet scratching up the sand, which they scattered in clouds and showersall around them.

  For a time they were scarce visible, the sand dust flying in everydirection, and concealing the greater portion of them beneath its duncloud; and this sort of play was continued for nearly half an hour. Itwas not intended for play, however, for when it at length came to atermination the spectators under the tree could perceive that a largecavity had been hollowed out in the sand, of such extent, as to diameterand depth, that more than half the flock, when within its circumference,were invisible from their point of observation.

  From that moment it could be noted that several birds were always downin the pit thus excavated, some going in, others coming out, as iftaking their turn in the performance of a common duty; and it wasfurther noticed that the ones so occupied were those of less conspicuousplumage--in fact the hens; while the cocks strutted around, with theirtails elevated high in the air, and with all the pride and importanceusually assumed by masters of a grand ceremonial.

  For another hour this singular scene was kept up, Saloo hindering hiscompanions from making any movement to interrupt it, by promising them agreat reward for non-interference.

  The scene at length terminated in another grand scraping match, by whichthe sand was flung back into the pit with the accompanying storm ofdust, and then emerging from the cloud there commenced a generalstampede of the megapodes, the birds separating into parties of two andthree, and going in different directions. They rushed away at lightningspeed, some along the smooth sand beach, while others rose right up intothe air, and on loud whirring wings flew off into the forest.

  "Now!" said Saloo, with joy gleaming in his dark, Oriental eyes. "Nowwe getee pay for patient waitee--we hab egg--better than dulion--bellybess solt of egg malee."

  As there was no need for further concealment or caution, all started totheir feet and hastened out to the spot where the departed fowls hadbeen at work. There was no longer any signs of a hollow, but a levelsurface corresponding with that around, and but for the fresh look ofthe recently disturbed sand, and the scoring that told of claws havingdisturbed it, no one could have thought that a flock of birds resemblingbarn-door fowl had just made such a large cavity in the ground, and thenfilled it up again.

  Saloo and Murtagh ran down to the pinnace, and each brought back an oar.With these used as shovels, the loose sand was once more removed, andnearly three dozen large eggs of a reddish or brick colour were exposedto view, lying in a sort of irregular stratification. They were of theusual ovoid form, smaller at one end than the other, though but slightlyelongated. What was most notable was their immense size, consideringthe bulk of the birds that voided them; for while the latter were notlarger than common hens, the eggs were as big as those of a goose. Thecontents of one which Murtagh, in his careless Hibernian way,accidentally broke--and which were caught in a tin pannikin that held asmuch as a good-sized breakfast cup--filled the pannikin to its brim.

  It was quite a seasonable supply. These fine eggs proved not inferiorto those of the common hen; indeed they were thought superior, and inflavour more like the eggs of a guinea-fowl or turkey.

  About a dozen of them were cooked for breakfast, and in more ways thanone. Some were boiled, one of the half shells of the same Singaporeoyster serving for a saucepan; while in the other, used as a frying-pan,an immense omelette was frittered to perfection. It was quite a changefrom the fruit diet of the durion, reversing our present as well as theold Roman fashion of eating, though not contrary to the custom of somemodern nations--the Spaniards, for example. Instead of being _ab ovo admalum_, it was _ab malo ad ovum_. [Note 2.]

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  Note 1. The Banshee, or Benshie, sometimes called the Shrieking Woman,is an imaginary being, supposed by the Irish to predict, by her shrieksand wails, the death of some member in the family over which sheexercises a kind of supervision. To this fable Moore alludes in one ofhis songs--

  "How oft has the Benshee cried."

  Note 2. The Romans began their noonday meal with eggs, and ended with adessert; _ab ovo ad malum_.