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

XXVII.] THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MOLUCCAS. 299severely wounded his feet with thorns ; and when we had onlytwo days more to stay, he went of his own accord one eveningto sleep at a little hut in tlie forest some miles ofl', in order tohave a last try for it at daybreak, when many birds come outto feed, and are very intent on their morning meal. The nextevening he brought me home two siDecimens, one witli the headblown completely off, and otherwise too much injured to preserve,the other in very good order, and which I at once saw tobe a new species, very like tlie Pitta celebensis, but ornamentedwith a square patch of bright red on the nape of the neck.The next day after securing this prize we returned to Cajeli,and packing up my collections left Bouru by the steamer.During our two days' stay at Ternate, I took on board whatbaggage I had left there, and bade adieu to all my friends. Wethen crossed over to Menado, on our way to Macassar and Java,and I finally quitted tlie Moluccas, among whose luxuriant andbeautiful islands I had wandered for more than three years.My collections in Bouru, though not extensive, were of considerableinterest ; for out of sixty-six species of birds which Icollected there, no less than seventeen were new, or liad not beenpreviously found in any island of the Moluccas. Among thesewere two kingfishers, Tanysijitera acis and Ceyx Cajeli ; abeautiful sunbird, Nectarinea proserj^ina ; a handsome littleblack and white flycatcher, Monarcha loricata, "whose swellingthroat was beautifully scaled with metallic blue ; and severalof less interest. I also obtained a skull of the babirusa, onespecimen of which was killed by native hunters during myresidence at Cajeli.CHAPTER XXVII.THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MOLUCCAS.The Moluccas consists of three large islands, Gilolo, Coram,and Bouru, the two former being each about two hundred mileslong ; and a great number of smaller isles and islets, the mostimportant of Avhich ai-e Batchiau, Morty, Obi, Ke, Timor-laut,and Amboyna ; and among the smaller ones, Ternate, Tidore,Kaida, and Banda. These occupy a space of ten degrees oflatitude by eight of longitude, and they are connected bygroups of small islets to New Guinea on the east, tJie Philippineson the north, Celebes ou the west, and Timor on the south.It will be as well to bear in mind these main features of extentand geographical position while we survey their animal productionsand discuss their relations to the countries whichsurround them on every side in almost equal proximity.We will first consider the ]\Iammalia, or warm-blooded quadrupeds,which pi'esent us with some singular anomalies. The