RENNELL - AN OUT OF THE WAY CORAL ISLAND 



217 



A chief catching doves. Normally he sits 

 in the top of a large tree. In his right 

 hand he is holding a stick with the decoy 

 dove, in his left the wide-meshed net in 

 which a small bird has been caught. 

 A few papaya leaves on his head serve 

 as camouflage. 



- •*».*ilE*k^'^^S&iii 



birds) no natural enemies, were perfectly tame. We also procured a couple 

 of species of parrot, a blackbird rather like our European blackbird, and 

 a species of kingfisher which lived on insects and snails. We found its 

 nest burrowed in a termitarium, where the young had only to peck a hole 

 in the wall to obtain a rich meal of termites (white ants) which would 

 come hurrying to repair it. But much to my surprise I found their stomachs 

 filled, not with termites, but with small lizards, large cicadas, locusts, spi- 

 ders, etc. At risk of life and limb I was obliged to kill a magnificent osprey 

 with ether, after a native had broken its wing with a stone. 



A rather common bird was the large bluish-grey Pacific dove (Ducula 

 pacifica). The method of catching this bird is a secret jealously guarded 

 by the chiefs, but is by means of large wide-meshed nets set up on a plat- 

 form at the top of a tree. The catcher sits camouflaged with leaves, and 

 decoys the doves by imitating their cooing while allowing a captive bird 

 to fly up and down from a perch. The doves are then ingeniously caught 

 in a large, oblong net. Smaller birds are captured in snares at the end of 

 a long pole. The handsomest bird on Rennell Island is a greyish-green 

 fruit-eating pigeon (Ptilinopus richardsii cyanopterus) with a chestnut 

 breast and scarlet speculum. i\.lso very handsome is a small scarlet and 

 jet-black cardinal sunbird. 



