322 NATIVE BIRD-NESTING. 



the brushes^ where the giancmg- of its bright colours 

 as it darts past in rapid flight arrests the attention 

 for a moment ere it is lost among the dense foliage. 

 I may next allude to Aplonis metallica — a bird 

 somewhat resembling a starlings of a dark glossy 

 green and purple hue^ with metallic reflections — in 

 connection with its singular nest. One day I was 

 taken by a native to the centre of a brushy where a 

 gigantic cotton tree standing alone was hung with 

 about fifty of the large pensile nests of this species. 

 After I had made several unsuccessful attempts to 

 shoot down one of the nests by firing with ball at 

 the supporting branchy the black volunteered to 

 climb the tree^ provided I would give him a knife. 

 I was puzzled to know how he proposed to act^ 

 the trunk being upwards of four feet in diameter 

 at the base^ and the nearest branch being about 

 sixty feet from the ground. He procured a tough 

 and pliant shoot of a kind of vine {Cissvs), of 

 sufficient length to pass nearly round the tree^ and 

 holding one end of this in each hand and pressing' his 

 legs and feet against the tree^ he ascended by a series 

 of jerks^ resting' occasionally^ holding on for half a 

 minute at a time with one end of the vine in his 

 mouth. At length he reached the branches and 

 threw me down as many nests as I required. He 

 afterwards filled the bag' which he carried round 

 his neck with the unfledged young birds^ which 

 on our return to the native camp on the beach were 

 thrown alive uj)on the fire_j in spite of my remon- 



