58 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
features indicate affinities with the marsupials. It is certainly rather 
startling to learn that this squirrel-like creature is remotely related 
to man, though the more rational view is that it belongs to’a very 
distinct branch of the insectivores possessing certain anatomical 
affinities with some of the lower primates. | 
I caught several of these by setting a home-made box-trap, with 
a-drop door, in a tree. This was baited with various fruits. Al- 
though able to climb with the agility of squirrels, tree shrews 
spend much of their time on the ground hunting for insects, and 
I saw them on several occasions keeping company with those 
extraordinary mixed companies of birds that move slowly through 
the forest partaking in a communal insect hunt. It was an exciting 
business transferring a tree shrew from the trap to a sack while 
standing on a branch high up in a tree, and using both hands to 
carry out the operation. 
By far the most conspicuous birds in these forests were the j jay- 
thrushes or laughing-thrushes, which could always be located by 
their frequent bursts of laughter-like call-notes. They go about 
the forest in parties, spending much of their time scratching in 
leaves for insects. The species here, all of which I captured alive, 
were White-cheeked Jay-thrushes, Diard’s Jay-thrushes, Pasquier’s 
Jay-thrushes, and Fries’ Scimitar-billed Babblers, the latter remark- 
able loud-voiced birds with very long curved bills. 
Most of our captures were rare insect-eating birds and many of 
them were most difficult to establish in captivity. The Elliot’s 
Pittas, for instance, would eat nothing but earthworms and it took 
a long time to get them accustomed to an artificial diet. Other 
birds, such as a pair of Green Bee-eaters—a magnificent species 
of chestnut, green and silky blue—were even more difficult, as 
they had to be gradually trained to eating artificial food from a 
receptacle, whereas their natural food is flying insects caught on 
the wing. 
We captured some gorgeous species of kingfishers here, their 
predominant colors being blue and white. One, the Black-capped 
Kingfisher, had the crown black and the back shining cobalt blue. 
What with our own captures and people arriving with baskets 
of birds, we were hard put to it to get all the necessary traveling 
cages made. To help us we employed a local Annamite carpenter 
