304 Amboyna. 



the snake, who then began slowly to uncoil itself. He then 

 managed to slip the noose over its head, and getting it well 

 on to the body, dragged the animal down. There was a 

 great scuffle as the snake coiled round the chairs and posts 

 to resist his enemy, but at length the man caught hold of its 

 tail, rushed out of the house (running so quick that the crea- 

 ture seemed quite confounded), and tried to strike its head 

 against a tree. He missed however, and let go, and the 

 snake got under a dead trunk close by. It was again poked 

 out, and again the Bouru man caught hold of its tail, and 

 running away quickly dashed its head with a swing against 

 a tree, and it was then easily killed with a hatchet. It was 

 about twelve feet long, and very thick, capable of doing 

 much mischief, and of swallowing a dog or a child. 



I did not get a great many birds here. The most re- 

 markable Avere the fine crimson lory (Eos rubra), a brush- 

 tongued parroquet of a vivid crimson color, which was very 

 abundant. Large flocks of them came about the plantation, 

 and formed a magnificent object when they settled down 

 upon some flowering tree, on the nectar of which lories feed. 

 I also obtained one or two specimens of the fine racquet- 

 tailed kingfisher of Amboyna (Tanysiptera nais), one of the 

 most singular and beautiful of that beautiful family. These 

 birds differ from all other kingfishers (which have usually 

 short tails) by having the two middle tail-feathers immense- 

 ly lengthened, and very narrowly webbed, but terminated 

 by a spoon-shaped enlargement, as in the motmots and some 

 of the humming-birds. They belong to that division of the 

 family termed king-hunters, living chiefly on insects and 

 small land-molluscs, which they dart down uj^on and pick up 

 from the ground, just as a kingfisher picks a fish out of the 

 water. They are confined to a very limited area, comprising 

 the Moluccas, New Guinea, and Northern Australia. About 

 ten species of these birds are now known, all much resem- 

 bling each other, but yet sufficiently distinguishable in every 

 locality. The Amboynese species, of which a very accurate 

 representation is here given, is one of the largest and hand- 

 somest. It is full seventeen inches long to the tips of the 

 tail-feathers; the bill is coral red, the imder surface pure 

 white, the back and wings deep purple, while the shoulders, 



