Notes in the New Hebrides. 609 



Mallicollo, uliere 1 landed with some of tlie other officers to 

 shoot ducks in a shallow iagoou. We got a few Anas siiper- 

 ciliosa and one Por/j/n/rio sinuraffdinus, a handsome Gallinule. 

 Mr. F. Paton, a sou of the veteran missionary, heads the 

 mission, and gave me much assistance and information about 

 the natives, who are ver}^ wild and treacherous. Among 

 other unpleasant customs, including cannibalism, they 

 have one of burying alive their very old and very sick 

 relatives. Several smiling murderers were pointed out 

 to me, who would have made as good bird-guides as any 

 others. 



On the 26th of May I was at Eromanga engaged in sur- 

 veying Polenia Bay. Globicera farquhari is very common 

 here, and we shot a number of this fine Pigeon, and I pro- 

 cured a single specimen of Petrceca simllis, shot by a native 

 boy with a blunt-headed arrow ; later on I obtained two 

 specimens of the nearly allied P. ambry mensis, but both 

 species are bush-skulkers and not easy to shoot. 



The 17th of June found me on the south coast of Jlspiritii 

 Santo, at the entrance of the Sarrakate river, up which I 

 made an expedition. The scenery was lovely as we pulled 

 up between the steep and densely wooded banks, the tops of 

 the giant trees being completely laced over with a thick 

 covering of convolvulus, uhich prevented the rays of even the 

 tropical sun at high noon from reaching the ground. Great 

 bushes of scarlet hibiscus made splashes of colour against 

 the dark green, but birds were few ; an occasional Pigeon 

 crossed high overhead, and Hirundo tahitica was hawking 

 over the surface of the w ater, while now and again we dis- 

 turbed a Bittern from the mangroves. Three miles brought 

 us to plantations, where bird-life was more plentiful, and I 

 obtained specimens of Aplonis rufipennis, another kind of 

 Zosterops [Z. griseunota), Collocalia fuciphaga, and Halcyon 

 Julia (specimens of this Kingfisher I found diflfered a good 

 deal in the neck-markings) . In some parts of Espiritu Santo 

 I found Lalage jiavotincta fairly common ; it is a handsome 

 little bird, with a breast of most delicate yellow. 



Early in July we were back at Efate, and an expedition to 

 a neighbouring plantation produced for me four specimens 



