( 45o ) 



which the problems are attacked, the iinmerous contentions in Artbildung and 

 Orthogenesis, the constant repetition that this or that contention is proved to be 

 correct, will serve to bring the study of Lepidoptera, to which Eimer has drawn 

 attention, onwards by instigating others to verify the facts and examine the 

 argnments. For this Lepidopterists can only be thankful. 



ON THE BIRDS OF LOMBLEN, PANTAR, AND ALOR. 



By ERNST HARTERT. 



PRACTICALLY nothing has hitherto been known of the ornis of these islands, 

 lying in a line from Flores to Wetter, althongh Doherty had collected 

 butterflies in all of them, but no birds. Everett's exploration of these islands is, 

 therefore, of great importance. Altogether the birds prove that the Flores ornis 

 reaches to Alor with but little alteration, while the ornis of Wetter has already 

 a greater proportion of modified forms. The ornis of Lomblen, Pantar, and Alor 

 (or Ombay) is chiefly the same, but in some cases that of Alor differs, and probably 

 has received some Timorese immigrants, while Lomblen and Pantar are more purely 

 Floresian. These facts would probably be more striking if the collections from 

 Lomblen and Pantar were larger. 



In Alor Everett collected chiefly in the eastern end of the island (Irdna), where 

 there was a small river, but he was not satisfied there. He then went by boat to 

 Larantuka, in Flores, stopping four days at Lomblen en route, but finding the 

 mountains everywhere inaccessible, owing to there being not a drop of water on 

 them. At Mount W^okka he found fighting going on ; in fact all these islands, 

 except Alor and Pantar, were just then in a state of absolute anarchy. During the 

 Alor trip Everett and his men frequently could not get enough to eat, and the water 

 was always bad, and they had a good deal of exposure in open boats under a terrific 

 sun. " The result was," Everett writes, "that I got a severe attack of intermittent 

 fever, and when ofi" my head I think I must have kicked violently against some- 

 thing with my damaged leg — anyhow I burst a vein and the leg swelled to an 

 enormous size. It was kept bandaged with ice for a week, and ultimately I was 

 taken to the hospital in Makassar, where 1 am now slowly recovering from an 

 operation. The Alor collection of birds cannot be regarded as at all an exhaustive one. 

 It is sniHcient, however, to show that the Flores ornis reaches its limit there. I 

 could find no trace of an Eclectus in Flores, or any of the islands up to Alor. 

 TrichoylossKS and Geojfroyus were not seen, and the natives did not know them. 

 There is a Geociclda in Alor, but I failed to get it, and my hunters twice saw a bird 

 which they identified with the Sci/throps. An Elanus was once observed. A single 

 Gerygone was shot, but too damaged for preservation. Gallus ficrcatus is common. 

 Other birds identified beyond doubt in Alor, but not sent, were Famlioii levcocephalus, 

 Haliactus Irucoguster, and Tringoidcs hijpoleuc.us. My jirincijial object in visiting 

 Alor was not attained, viz. the, ascent of the mountain at the eastern end (6U00 

 feet I), and it can only be achieved during or immediately after the rainy season. 

 I would have made a longer stay in Lomblen, bnt I had rice only just enough to 

 carry my party to Larantuka. Neither 1 nor my men could subsist on maize, which 



