BIRDS 75 



waters of the river j^ou hear the harsh cry of the Greater 

 Bird of Paradise {Paradisea novae guineae), but both 

 of these are birds of the dense forest and I do not 

 remember ever having seen one from the river. 



Green and red Eclcctus Parrots (Elcdiis pedoralis) 

 and white Lemon-crested Cockatoos are fairly numerous 

 and their harsh screams, though sufficiently unpleas- 

 ing are a welcome interruption of the prevailing 

 silence. 



Lories were not often seen on the river journeys, 

 but they were extremely common near Wakatimi, where 

 a certain clump of trees was used by them as a regular 

 roosting-place. For an hour or more before sunset 

 countless hundreds of Lories (Eos fuscata) flew in flocks 

 from all directions towards the roosting-trees, chatter- 

 ing loudly as they flew and even louder after they had 

 perched. Often a branch would give way under the 

 living weight and then the whole throng would rise 

 in the air again and circle round and round before they 

 alighted once more and the shouting and chattering 

 continued until it was dark. 



Crocodiles were very seldom seen, but Iguanas of 

 two or three feet in length w^ere often seen sunning 

 themselves on a log or a stump, from which they would 

 splash hurriedly into the water as the canoes approached. 

 Several times at night I heard a splash as loud as the 

 plunge of a man into water, but I could never discover 

 what was the animal that caused it ; there may yet 

 possibly be some large unknown reptile in the river. 

 Snakes were sometimes seen curled up in the over- 

 hanging vegetation and very commonly they were 



