A fair
weight for a full-grown cassowary is 150 lb., and the egg weighs 1 lb. 6
oz. A good-conditioned megapode weighs 3 lb., the egg 5 1/4 oz.; ordinary
domestic fowl, 4 lb., egg 2 oz. The egg of the cassowary represents 1 per
cent. of the weight of the bird, the domestic fowl's 3 1/8 per cent., and
that of megapode no less than 11 1/2 per cent of its weight.
When these facts are considered, we realise why the homey head of the
great cassowary, the layer of the largest of Australian eggs, is carried
so low as she bursts through the jungle; why the pair converse in such
humble tones and why, on the other hand, the megapode exults so loudly so
coarsely and in such shocking intervals, careless of the sentiments and
of the sense of melody of every other bird.
Though the powers of the flight of this bird are feeble it inhabits
islands 3 and 4 miles further out to sea than their most adjacent
neighbours. The laboured way in which a startled bird flies across the
narrow expanse of my plantation proves that a long journey would never
be undertaken voluntarily. Not many months ago some blacks walking on the
beach on the mainland had their attention attracted by a bird flying low
on the water from the direction of Dunk Island, 2 1/2 miles away.
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