[meg-uh-pohd] 
| any of several large-footed, short-winged gallinaceous Australasian birds of the family Megapodiidae, typically building a compostlike mound of decaying vegetation as an incubator for their eggs. |
| meg·a·pode (měg'ə-pōd') n. Any of various large-footed, ground-dwelling birds of the family Megapodiidae, found in Australia and many South Pacific islands, that build mounds or burrows of earth and compost in which to incubate their eggs. Also called moundbird, mound builder, scrub fowl. [From Megapodius, type genus : mega- + New Latin -podius, masculine of -podium, -pod.] |
| mound builder n. See megapode. |
| Mound Builder (mound) n. A member of any of various Native American peoples flourishing from around the 5th century B.C. to the 16th century A.D. especially in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, practicing settled agriculture and known for their often large burial and effigy mounds. |
mound builder
(family Megapodiidae), any of 12 species of Australasian chickenlike birds (order Galliformes) that bury their eggs to hatch them. Most species rely on fermenting plant matter to produce heat for incubation, but some use solar heat and others the heat produced by volcanic action
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