THE TRUE MF.GAPODES. l8l 



the Other islands, a man brought three eggs, fresh laid. He 

 was told to come back again as soon as the vessel returned ; but 

 he did not, and I never saw a nest. I travelled to a place on the 

 eastern side of Vate, where I was told there were still a few of 

 these birds remaining. ... I stole along carefully, just 

 stepping from one rock to another, and every few yards stop- 

 ping behind a tree to listen and reconnoitre. . . . Twice, 

 I was certain, I heard scratching among the dead leaves, but 

 could see no birds. I could have had several shots at fowls 

 run wild, but I was after nobler game. At length, as the bats 

 v^-ere already flitting around my head, I thought it time to re- 

 trace my footsteps. I had not gone far, when, with a hoarse 

 croak, a dark object bounded over the bottom of the water- 

 course I was walking in. In the gathering darkness I could 

 only see a black mass, like a stone, among the saplings. How- 

 ever, as I knew I could not get any nearer, I tried the choke- 

 bore at it. The smoke hung round so that I could see nothing, 

 and I heard no fluttering among the leaves ; but when I went 

 up to the place there lay my flrst ' Malou,' shot through the 

 head and heart. A little further on I heard the scratching 

 (sure sign!); but while cautiously peeping round a big tree, an 

 envious rotten branch caught against my breast, and broke with 

 a loud snap ; and I just got a glimpse of the ' Malou ' running 

 like a racehorse over a slight elevation close by. Next day I 

 was in a ravine so precipitous that I had to get into the summit 

 of a big tree and climb down that way. I had not gone far when 

 I heard something that sounded remarkably like a 'Malou.' 

 As before, I was in the bed of the watercourse. I looked all 

 about the almost perpendicular sides. There was nothing to be 

 seen, but the noise still continued; and at last, right in front of 

 me, on a litti - pebbly bank under a huge rock, I caught sight 

 of two splendid '. ■ 'us,' slowly retreating, and looking full at 

 me. They were evia..i...j :'-d birds, in full breeding plumage, 

 their bare red heads and necks shining grandly in a gleam of 

 sunshine ; and they carried their absurd little tails stuck straight 



