The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

xvri. 1CELEBES. 203black, with a white mark over each eye, one on eacli cheek, andanother on tlie throat. The liorns are very smooth and sharpwhen young, but become thicker and ridged at the bottom withage. Most naturalists consider this cuiious animal to be asmall ox, but from the character of the horns, the fine coat ofhair and the descending dewlap, it seemed closely to approachthe antelopes.Arrived at our destination we built a hut and prej^ared for astay of some days, I to shoot and skin " Maleos," Mr. Goldmannand the Major to hunt wild pigs, Babiriisa, and )Sapi-utan. Tlieplace is situated in the large bay between the islands of Limb^and Banca, and consists of a steep beach more than a mile inlength, of deep loose and coarse black volcanic sand or rathergravel, very fatiguing to walk over. It is bounded at each extremityby a small river, with hilly ground beyond ; while theforest behind tlie beach itself is tolerably level and its growthstunted. We have here probalaly an ancient lava stream fromthe Klabat volcano, which has flowed down a valley into the sea,and the decomposition of whicli has formed the loose black sand.In confirmation of this view it may be mentioned, that thebeaches beyond the small rivers in both directions are of whitesand.It is in this loose, hot black sand that those singular birds the" Maleos " deposit their eggs. In the months of August andSeptember, when there is little or no rain, they come down inpairs from the interior to this or to one or two other favouritespots, and scratcli holes three or four feet deep, just above highwatermark, where the female deposits a single large egg, whichshe covers over with about a foot of sand, and tlien returns to theforest. At the end of ten or twelve days she comes again to thesame sjiot to lay another egg, and each female bird is supposedto lay six or eight eggs during the season. Tlie male assists thefemale in making the hole, coming down and returning with her.The appearance of the bird when walking on the beacli is veryhandsome. The glossy black and rosy white of the plumage,the helmeted head and elevated tail, like that of the commonfowl, give a striking character, which their stately and somewhatsedate walk renders still more I'emarkable. There ishardly any difference between the sexes, except that the casqueor bonnet at the back of the head and the tubercles at thenostrils are a little larger, and the beautiful rosy salmon coloura little deeper in the male bird, but the diff"erence is so slightthat it is not always possible to tell a male from a female withoutdissection. They run quickly, but when shot at or suddenlydisturbed take wing with a heavy noisy flight to soine neighbouringtree, where they settle on a low branch ; and theyprobably roost at night in a similar situation. Many birds layin the same hole, for a dozen eggs are often found together ; andthese are so large tliat it is not possible for the body of the birdto contain more than one fully-developed egg at the same time.