The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. Their name literally means "large foot" (Greek: mega = large, poda = foot), and is a reference to the heavy legs and feet typical of these terrestrial birds. All are browsers, and all but the malleefowl occupy wooded habitats. Most are brown or black colored. Megapodes are superprecocial, hatching from their eggs in the most mature condition of any birds. They hatch with open eyes, bodily coordination and strength, full wing feathers and downy body feathers, and are able to run, pursue prey, and, in some species, fly on the same day they hatch.
Megapodes are medium-sized to large terrestrial birds with large legs and feet with sharp claws. They range from 28 to 70 cm. The largest members of the clade are the species of Alectura and Talegalla. The smallest are the Micronesian scrubfowl (Megapodius laperouse) and the Moluccan scrubfowl (Eulipoa wallacei). They have small heads, short beaks, and rounded and large wings. Their flying abilities vary within the clade. They present the hallux at the same level of the other toes just like the species of the clade Cracidae. The other Galliformes have their halluces raised above the level of the front toes.
He dreamed that he stood in a shadowy Court,
Where the Snark, with a glass in his eye,
Dressed in gown, bands, and wig, was defendig a pig
On a charge of deserting its sty.
(Barrister)
I dreamed last night I was standing in a court of Law,
And the Snark was the Counsel for Defence,
He was trying to establish the innocence,
Of a pig that I clearly saw,
As stated hereinbefore
In a Court of Law.
And while I was standing in a Court of Law,
The jury talked so they missed a lot,
And some were listening and some were not,
So the judge cried, "I implore,
Bring it down to a deafening roar,
In this Court of Law".
(Barrister Jury)
Let's teach it a lesson it'll never forget
For a devious deed it will live to regret,
It's clear that the pig must die.
We're of the opinion the pig must pay,
We can't let it live for another day,
We fear if the rules apply,
It's clear that the pig must die.
(Barrister)
The Snark replied, "I beg you my learned friends,
For it seems to me with the naked eye
That the pig can live or the pig can die,
And its happiness all depends
On the mercy that now extends
From my learned friends."
(Jury)
Let's teach it a lesson it'll never forget
For a devious deed it will live to regret,
It's clear that the pig must die.
(Barrister Jury)
We're of the opinion the pig must pay,
We can't let it live for another day,
We fear if the rules apply,
It's clear that the pig must die.
Let's teach it a lesson it'll never forget
For a devious deed it will live to regret,
It's clear that the pig must die.
We're of the opinion the pig must pay,
We can't let it live for another day,
We fear if the rules apply,
It's clear that the pig must die.
Then the snark pronounced sentence, the Judge being quite
Too nervous to utter a word;
When it rose to its feet, there was silence like night
And the fall of pin might be heard.
(Barrister)
Let's teach it a lesson it'll never forget
For a devious deed it will live to regret,
It's clear that the pig must die.
(Barrister Jury)
We're of the opinion the pig must pay,
We can't let it live for another day,
We fear if the rules apply,
It's clear that the pig must die.
But their wild exultation was suddenly checked
When the jailer informed them with tears
Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,
As the pig had been dead for some years.