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

402 THE ]iIALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [cHAr.low clown, running along a bough seai'ching for insects, almostlike a woodpecker, and the long black riband-lLke filaments inhis tail hung down in the most graceful double curve imaginable.I covered him with my gun, and was going to use tlie barrelwhich had a very small charge of powder and number eightshot, so as not to injure Ms plumage, but the gun missed fire,and he was off in an instant among the thickest jungle. Anotherday we saw no less than eight fine males at ditterent times, andfired four times at them ; but though other birds at the samedistance almost alwaj-s dropped, these all got away, and I beganto think we were not to get this magnificent species. At lengththe fruit ripened on the fig-tree close by my house, and manybirds came to feed on it ; and one morning, as I was taking mycoflee, a male Paradise Bird was seen to settle on its top. Iseized my gun, ran under the tree, and, gazing up, could see itflying across from branch to branch, seizing a fruit here andanother there, and then, before I could get a sufiicient aim toshoot at such a height (for it was one of the loftiest trees ofthe tropics), it was away into the forest. They now visitedthe tree every morning ; but they stayed so short a time,their motions were so rapid, and it was so difficult to seethem, owing to the lower trees, which impeded the view, thatit was only after several days' watching, and one or two misses,that I brought down my bird—a male in the most magnificentplumage.This bird differs very much from the two large species whichI had already obtained, and, although it wants the grace impartedby their long golden trains, is in many respects moreremarkable and more beautiful. The head, back, and shouldersai"e clothed with a richer yellow, the deep metallic green colourof the throat extends further over the head, and the feathersare elongated on the forehead into two little erectile crests.The side plumes are shorter, but ai-e of a rich red coloui", terminatingin delicate white points, and the middle tail-feathersare represented by two long rigid glossy ribands, wliich areblack, thin, and semi-cylindrical, and droop gracefully in a spiralcurve. Several other interesting birds were obtained, and abouthalf-a-dozen quite new ones ; but none of any remarkablebeauty, except the lovely little dove, Ptilonopus pulchellus,which with several other pigeons I shot on the same fig-treeclose to my house. It is of a beautiful green colour above, witha forehead of the richest crimson, while beneath it is ashy whiteand rich yellow, banded with violet red.On the evening of our arrival at !Muka I observed whatappeared like a disi^lay of Axirora Borealis, though I couldhardly believe that this was possible at a point a little south ofthe equator. The night was clear and calm, and the northernsky presented a diflused light, with a constant succession offaint vertical flashings or flickerings, exactly similar to anordinary aurora in England. The next day was fine, but after