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

22 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.below, while the iris is emerald green.As the skins dry the billturns dull black, but even then the bird is handsome. Whenfresh killed, the contrast of the \dvid blue with the rich coloursof the plumage is remai-kably striking and beautiful. Thelovely Eastern trogons, with their rich brown backs, beautifullypencilled wings, and crimson breasts, were also soon obtained,as well as the lai'ge green barbets (Megaljema versicolor)—fruiteatingbirds, something like small toucans, with a short, straightbristly bill, and whose head and neck are variegated withpatches of the most vivid blue and crimson. A day or twoaftei', my hunter brought me a specimen of the green gaper(Calyptomena ^-iridis), which is like a small cock-of-the-rock,but entirely of the most vivid green, delicately marked on thewings with black bars. Handsome woodpeckers and gay kingfishers,green and brown cuckoos with velvety red faces andgreen beaks, red-breasted doves and metallic honeysuckers, wei'ebrought in day after day, and kept me in a continual state ofpleasurable excitement. After a fortnight one of my servantswas seized with fever, and on retui'ning to Malacca, the samedisease attacked the other as well as myself. By a liberal useof quinine, I soon recovered, and obtaining other men, went tostay at the Government bungalow of Aj'er-panas, accompaniedby a young gentleman, a native of the jjlace, who had a tastefor natural history.At Ayer-panas we had a comfortable house to stay in, andplenty of room to dry and preserve our specimens ; but, owingto there being no industrious Chinese to cut down timber,insects were comparatively scarce, -s^nth the exception of butterflies,of wliich I formed a very tine collection. The manner inwhich I obtained one tine insect was curious, and indicates howfragmentary and imperfect a traveller's collection must necessarilybe. I was one aftei'noon walking along a favourite roadthrough the forest, with my gun, w4ien I saw a butterfly on theground. It w-as large, handsome, and quite new to me, and Igot close to it before it flew away. I then observed that it hadbeen settling on the dung of some carnivorous animal. Thinkingit might return to the same spot, I next day after breakfasttook my net, and as I approached the place was deKghted to seethe same butterfly sitting on the same piece of dung, and succeededin capturing it. It was an entirely new species of greatbeauty, and has been named by Mr. He^^dtson Nymphaliscalydonia. I never saw another specimen of it, and it! wasonly after twelve years had elapsed that a second individualreached this country from the north-western part of Borneo.Ha\ing determined to visit Mount Ophir, which is situated inthe middle of the peninsula about tifty miles east of Malacca, weengaged six Malays to accompany us and carry our baggage.As we meant to stay at least a week at the mountain, we tookwith us a good supply of rice, a little biscuit, butter, and cofiee,some dried fish and a little brandy, with blankets, a change of