( 2(i:5 ) 



ON THE BIRDS COLLECTED BY MR. EVERETT ON 

 THE ISLAND OF SAVU. 



By ERNST HAKTERT. 



THE little island of Savn is situated about midway between Rotti and Snmba, 

 but nearer to Rotti, a small island S.W. of Timor. The channel between Sumba 

 and Savn is about 4o miles wide. Savu, or Rai-Hawu, is about 20 miles in length, 

 low near the coast, but moderately elevated in the interior, and visible at sea for 

 about 20 to 23 miles. It has a sandy and barren aspect. Fresh water is scarce ; 

 but cattle, sheep, pigs, fowls, lemons, and cocoa-nuts can be obtained. In the 

 Indian Archipelago Directory is a note saying that the little island of Banjoan, 

 Banjoar, or Rai-Diuwa, miles S.-^-S. from Savu and 5 miles in length, is wooded; 

 but Everett writes that it has the same vegetation as Savn, viz. Lontar palms with 

 a little scrub, and therefore he did not consider it worth the expense of visiting it. 



I am not aware of any birds having been collected on Savu before. Herr 

 J. G. F. Riedel, who has done so much for ethnology and ornithology (see A. B. 

 Meyer's various publications about his collections), explored the island, and wrote 

 an interesting account of the manners and customs of the natives in the Revue 

 Colon'mle Tnterriationale. for 188.5 ; but he seems not to have collected birds tliere. 



Mr. Everett arrived in Savu on August 7th, 1S'J(3, and left again on 

 September 11th. He writes from Sumba : "Savu has fallen sadly short of our 

 hopes. Figure to yourself a bit of Socotra chopped off and jjlanted down here, and 

 you will have some idea of what the island is daring the dry season, with a strong 

 parching wind blowing over it all day and every day. The avifauna is scanty, and as 

 for lepidoptera the few that are seen are nearly all blown into mere rags and fragments. 

 Such as they are, however, I send them. There is a black-and-yellow Troides in the 

 island, but none of us saw it, and the natives said that it was found only during the 

 rainy season. Five weeks' search produced about a dozen sjiecies of beetles. For 

 collecting insects Savu should be visited in the wet season, when there is more water 

 and vegetation. The birds are j)oor, but some will interest you, I hope. I have 

 sent specimens of every kind of bird I could obtain. Besides those sent, we saw also 

 an Ardetta, a large white Ilerodias, and Tachi/petes (? mimr) ; and there exists also 

 a second species of duck, which I failed to get. We collectetl both on the east and 

 west end of the island, and at an intermediate station." 



Besides birds and insects, Mr. Everett sent also some mammals, partly in skins, 

 partly in spirits. They are, according to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, the following 

 species : — 



1. Pteropus vampyrus L. 



2. Pteropus gouldi Pet. (?). — Agreeing with some specimens in the British 



Museum marked by Dobson as Pt. gouldi, but being considerably smaller 

 than the types. 

 !i. Scotophil/i.s hiildi Leach. 



4. Xantkarpyia amplexicaiidata Geolf. 



5. Tapkozoiis melanopogon Hardw. 

 0. M'Ms cphippium Jeut. 



