412 Notes on some Oriental Birds. 



for several years ; for the birds, if not molested, use the same 

 heap many seasons. The eggs are often buried so deep that 

 with our small implements (a cocoa-nut shell) we found it 

 impossible to get at them. The eggs are often placed amongst 

 the roots of a tree, and this makes them very difficult to get at. 

 A good many green leaves are plucked and placed in the 

 hole, and amongst these the egg is laid. The leaves would 

 ferment and so assist in hatching the eggs, which are of a 

 pale salmon-colour with a chalky surface, which is easily 

 chipped off. The Ousuns make regular egging- expeditions, 

 and often brought the eggs to me, to be exchanged for two or 

 three smokes of tobacco. 



The young bird's early life is to me a mystery. It may 

 be dug out of the heap fully fledged and ready to fly. I sent 

 one home with my collection which might pass for an adult 

 bird of another species ; but this bird had never seen the 

 daylight until we dug it out ; none of the feathers had soft 

 shafts or seemed in any way new. The young are neither 

 fed nor looked after by their parents, which, as they are of all 

 ages, would be difficult. They generally squat until you are 

 within 15 yards or so and then take wing like a Quail, 

 never running out of danger like the old birds. 



8. Plotus melanooaster. 



The Indian Snake-bird, or Darter, of which the native 

 name is Baisan (to dive)-Buaia (crocodile), is fairly common 

 in the rivers of Borneo, being most frequently met with near 

 the mouths and let-ways. It often sits motionless on some 

 dead log, or rests on a low flat-topped tree, after the manner 

 of Cormorants. As your boat gets too near, it glides off into 

 the water like a water-rat, often enough vanishing altogether, 

 as it easily swims with its body below the surface, leaving 

 only its snake-like head and neck above. 



During the breeding-season they collect in numbers, nest- 

 ing on Ijw trees in some secluded nook. The '' rookery '' I 

 visited in North Borneo was up a long and narrow creek 

 amongst hippa palms. This creek widened out a little, 

 forming a small pond, around which there were several low 



