Mound Birds

Mound Birds, a name for the gallinaceous family Megapodidaj, from the Oriental and Australian regions, from their habit of constructing large mounds of soil and leaves, in which the eggs are deposited and hatched by the heat of the decomposing vegetable matter. The birds of the type-genus Megapodius, about the size of small fowls, are, with one exception, of sombre plumage; the head is usually crested, the tail small, and the feet enormously developed.