Nearly all bird species display parental behavior. The extent of such parental attention to egg and chicks depends upon the developmental maturity of the hatchling which varies along an altricialprecocial spectrum (Starck and Ricklefs, 1998). Birds of the family Megapodiidae (Order: Galliformes) have the most precocial chicks, requiring no post-hatching care, and parents display the most atypical incubation behavior (Frith, 1956). Care of eggs in the megapodes does not involve direct application of heat from a brood patch, but rather often elaborate procedures to maintain temperature using heat sources as such as geothermal, solar, or decomposition of organic material. A few species of birds (particularly the cowbirds and some of the cuckoos) are obligate brood parasites, depositing their eggs in the nests of other species to be incubated and cared for by the host. In essentially all other avian species one or both parents must incubate the eggs until hatching and then provide some form of post-hatching care. Care of hatchlings ranges from guarding and guiding in most precocial species (as in Anseriformes and Galliformes) to provisioning of all food and intensive brooding for thermoregulation (as in Passeriformes and Psittaciformes). In the majority of species both males and females contribute to care of eggs and young. Since the fitness of an individual is determined directly by its contribution to the genetic pool of the subsequent generation, it is little wonder that natural selection has produced a myriad of behaviors by which parent birds attempt to increase survival of their own offspring. Considering the highly adaptive value of such behavior it is also not surprising that attempts by the poultry industry to reduce the incidence of incubation and brooding behavior have met with limited success (Sharp, 1997).