_Megapodius senex_ Hartlaub, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867 (1868),
p. 820. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)
_Megapodius senex_ Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1868, pp. 7, 118 (Pelew); Gray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 256
(Pelew); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp.
89, 103 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 5,
29, pl. 5, fig. 2, 3 (Palau); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p.
547 (Pelew); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy,
1881, p. 407 (Palau); Oustalet, Ann. Sci. Nat., (6), art. 2, 1881,
pp. 63, 140, 145, 171, 175 (Pelew); Tristram, Cat. Birds, 1889, p.
30 (Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no.
6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 58 (Pelew); Oustalet, Ann. Sci. Nat.
Zool., 11, 1891, p. 196 (Peleu); _idem_, Nouv. Arch Mus. Hist.
Nat. Paris, (3), 8, 1896, p. 30 (Palaos); Ogilvie-Grant, Hand-book
Game-birds, 2, 1897, p. 182 (Pelew); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5,
1898, p. 62 (Pelew); Bolau, Mitteil, Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg,
1898, p. 69 (Palau); Finsch, Sammlung wissensch. Vorträge, 14
ser., 1900, p. 659 (Palau); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p.
113 (Palau); Lister, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 757
(Pelew).
_Megapodius laperousii_ Ogilvie-Grant (part), Cat. Birds British
Mus., 22, 1893, p. 460 (Pelew); Takastukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1,
1915, p. 51 (Pelew); Kuroda, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 27, 1915, p. 390
(Pelew); _idem_, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 28, 1916, p. 69 (Pelew).
_Megapodius laperousi_ Seale (part), Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop
Mus., 1, 1901, p. 39 (Pelew); Safford (part), The Plant World, 7,
1904, p. 265 (Pelew); Uchida, Annot. Zool. Japon., 9, 1918, pp.
486, 487 (Palau).
_Megapodius laperousii_ var. _senex_ Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2, 1904,
p. 787 (Pelew).
_M[egapodius] lapeyrousei_ Reichenow (part), Die Vögel, 1, 1913,
p. 273 (Palauinseln).
_Megapodius laperousei senex_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 40 (Pelew).
_Megapodius lapérouse senex_ Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum,
1, 1927, p. 14 (Pelew); Takastukasa, Birds Nippon, vol. 1, pt. 1,
1932, p. 13, pl. 4, 5 (Pelew); Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1932, p. 412
(Ngesebus, Auror, Peliliu); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932,
p. 198 (Palau); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 2, 1934, p. 6
(Palau); Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 679 (Gayangas, Arumidin);
Amadon, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1175, 1942, p. 9 (Palau); Mayr,
Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 286 (Palau); Baker, Smithson.
Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 46 (Garakayo, Peleliu,
Ngabad).
_Megapodius la pérouse senex_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed.,
1942, p. 223 (Babelthuap, Koror, Auror, Ngesebus, Peliliu,
Gayangas, Arumidin).
_Megapodius laperouse_ Wharton and Hardcastle, Journ.
Parasitology, 32, 1946, p. 294 (Garakayo).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Palau Islands--Babelthuap, Koror,
Auror, Kayangel, Garakayo, Ngesebus, Peleliu, Ngabad, Gayangas,
Arumidin.
_Characters._--Adult: A small megapode with top of head near
"mouse gray"; forehead, sides of face and neck, chin, and throat
thinly covered with feathers of the same color; mantle and upper
breast grayish-black becoming dark olive-brown on wings; lower
back, rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown; tail blackish-brown;
underparts grayish-brown, lighter on midline of belly; under wings
dark brown; exposed skin of head reddish to yellowish-red; bill
yellowish, basally blackish; legs yellowish; feet and claws black;
iris tan.
_Measurements._--Measurements of three adult males: wing, 178,
182, 188; tail, 55, 63; culmen, 22.7, 23.3; tarsus, 55, 56, 57; of
seven adult females: wing, 171-189 (182); tail, 46-68 (58);
culmen, 25-30 (27); tarsus, 45-60 (55). Takatsukasa (1932:14)
lists the following measurements: males--wing, 176-181; tail,
59-67; culmen, 25.5-26.0; tarsus, 58-61; females--wing, 177-187;
tail, 62-68; culmen, 24.0-26.0; tarsus, 55-58.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 23 (11 males, 8 females, 4
unsexed), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM--Koror, 1 (Nov.
28)--Garakayo, 5 (Sept. 17, 18, 19)--Peleliu, 2 (Aug. 31, Sept.
1)--Ngabad, 1 (Sept. 11); AMNH--Palau, 16 (Nov., Dec., not dated).
_Nesting._--The megapodes do not incubate their eggs, but the
female deposits them in a moundlike structure of sand, volcanic
ash, and forest litter or some other type of soil in which there is
warmth sufficient to hatch the eggs after an extended period
(perhaps 40 days or more) without further attention from the parent
bird. The young dig out and lead an independent existence. Several
megapodes may utilize one nest site, which ordinarily is at a low
elevation near a beach or lagoon.
The NAMRU2 party obtained two downy chicks at Gayakayo Island on
September 18 and 19, 1945. A female taken on September 1 at
Peleliu contained large eggs. Coultas obtained two chicks (one in
postnatal molt) in November and December, 1931. Kubary, as quoted
by Takatsukasa (1932:15), says that eggs may be found in the
mounds throughout the year at Palau but are found most numerously
in the south-east monsoon (April to November). Yamashina
(1932a:412) reports on eggs taken in 1932 as follows: eight eggs
from Auror Island on January 15; one egg from Ngesebus Island on
January 16; and four eggs from Peleliu Island on January 16.
Takatsukasa (1932:15) states that eggs are most numerous in the
mounds in the months of May and June. The chicks obtained by
NAMRU2 in September were of such a size as to suggest that they
too had been laid in June.
Takatsukasa (1932:15) comments, "Whilst Dr. Yaichir[=o] Okada was
in the Pelew Group, he found two nests on Kajangel Island, which
is an uninhabited island about twelve sea-miles southeast of the
island of Malacal. He says that he found two nests, one of which
was obsolete and the other was in use.
The first one was oval in shape; the diameter of the largest part
was twenty-four feet, and the smallest part was twenty feet, and it
had a height of four feet. The second one was fan-shaped, as an
obstacle existed at one side of the nest, and its diameter was
twelve feet and the height was a little more than four feet, and
the native whom he asked to dig out the eggs got three. One of the
eggs contained a well-advanced embryo and the others were not so
advanced as the first one. This distance from the top of the mound
to the spot where the eggs were laid was about two and a half feet,
and the natives made a great deal of effort to get these eggs.
These nests were found in the bush by the natives." The NAMRU2
party observed a mound on Ngabad Island, a small islet near
Peleliu, on September 11. It was much like those described by
Takatsukasa, being approximately six feet high and some twelve or
fifteen feet across. It was not excavated.
_Molt._--Birds taken in August, September and November were molting
body feathers. Birds taken in December were molting wing feathers.
_Food habits._--Takatsukasa (1932:16) comments, "My collector
reports to me that this bird diets on insects and tender shoots
which it gets from under the soil by scratching with its large and
powerful feet." According to Captain Tetens, as noted by
Takatsukasa, the food of the bird consists of insects and berries.
Birds taken by the NAMRU2 party had the following food items in
their stomachs: adult female--2 cc. seeds, grit; adult female--3
cc. crab parts, grit; adult female--2 cc. seeds, sand; male
chick--1 cc. ground food, grit; female chick--1 cc. ground food,
grit, in crop 3 cc. small wood roaches (Blattidae).
_Parasites._--Wharton and Hardcastle (1946:294) obtained the
chigger (Acarina), _Neoschöngastia yeomansi_, from the megapode at
Palau. Uchida (1918:486, 487) found the bird lice (Mallophaga),
_Goniocotes minor_ and _Lipeurus sinuatus_, on megapodes from the
Palaus.
_Remarks._--The NAMRU2 party arrived at the Palau Islands on August 23,
1945, with little notion that the megapode would be found on the
war-torn island of Peleliu. As reported by the author (1946b:209 and
1948:46) we found birds in small numbers in the relatively undisturbed
areas of rough coral covered by jungle and a few birds in the heavy
matting of viny and brushy vegetation which was rapidly covering the
battlefields. The finding of a higher population on the more isolated
and relatively undisturbed offshore islets (Ngabad, Garakayo) by the
NAMRU2 party was an observation similar to those of Takatsukasa
(1932:15, 16) and Coultas (field notes). Takatsukasa (1932:16) remarks,
"Dr. Finsch said that this Megapode frequents nearly all the islands of
the Pelew Group ... but it is very noticeable that this bird has either
disappeared, or only very rarely exists in the following islands: Koror,
Ngarekobasanga, and especially the main island of Babelthuap." He quotes
Otto Finsch as remarking that, "It seems that the bird occasionally
moves from one island to another, as the bird is a good flier."
Takatsukasa continues, "According to Tetens, this Megapode runs very
swiftly among the bushes, and when it is startled it takes to the
nearest tree.... Captain Wilson says nothing about the Megapode, but Dr.
Finsch wrote that Captain Wilson is probably referring to the egg of
this bird under 'Wild Fowls,' when he said that the natives of the
Palaus do not eat the flesh of the birds, but they go to the woods and
bring back the eggs; they do not appreciate the newly laid eggs, but
they consider it as a delicacy to swallow the well advanced embryo."
The NAMRU2 party found the birds to prefer rough, coral jungle where
there was considerable heavy undergrowth and ground litter. The birds
were located by their loud screeches and cackles but were difficult to
stalk. It was best to remain quiet and let them approach within shooting
distance. Young chicks were extremely active and wild. One of the two
chicks taken at Garakayo was obtained by a fortunate shot as the bird
was flying rapidly through the brush. The natives use them as food, and
I learned of one serviceman who had worked out a technique for trapping
the birds. He traded the live birds to the natives for island souvenirs.
As Wilson and Takatsukasa note, the natives apparently prefer the eggs
to the adults as food, and in normal times of food abundance they
probably do not molest the adults but hunt for their eggs. This seems
logical, since if a determined trapping program were in operation by the
natives, it should not take many decades to eliminate completely the
entire population. On four islands visited by the NAMRU2 party in August
and September, 1945, I estimated the following populations: Garakayo--20
to 30; Ngabad--5 to 10; Peleliu--10 to 20; Angaur--less than 10.
=Megapodius lapérouse lapérouse= Gaimard