80 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



of tlie size of a cat, is also found in the Philippines. 

 Six species of deer are found on this island, and two 

 of them, the Cervus riifa and Cervus mcmtjac^ are 

 sometimes domesticated/'*' The elephant is not found 

 in Java, though it lives in Sumatra, Borneo, and the 

 peninsula. Also the v^ld horse of Sumatra or Cele- 

 bes does not exist in Java. 



Among the more noticeable birds of Java is a 

 beautiful species of peacock, the Pavo spicifer. It 

 was represented to me as quite abundant in some 

 places along the south coast. The natives make very 

 beautiful cigar-holders from fine strips of its quills. 

 In Sumatra it is not found, but is represented by an 

 allied species. Of pigeons, Java has no less than ten 

 species. The web-footed birds are remarkably few in 

 species and numbers. A single duck, a teal, and two 

 pelicans, are said to comprise the whole number. The 

 white heron has already been noticed, and besides 

 this, ten other species have been described. One of 

 the smallest birds in Java, and yet, perhaps, the 

 most important, from its great numbers, is the rice- 

 eater, Fringilla oryzivora^ a kind of sparrow. Great 

 flocks of these bii*ds are continually annoying the 

 Malays as soon as the rice is nearly grown. The 



* Albinos are occasionally found among these animals. For a long 

 time previous to 1840 there was a famous " white deer " on the coast at 

 Antju, in the vicinity of Batavia. Many attempts were made to shoot 

 it, and these invariably proved so unsuccessful, that the natives, finding 

 they had an opportunity to give way to their insatiable love for the mar- 

 vellous, were all fully convinced that this animal was invulnerable. It 

 was, however, shot at last, and proved to be of a gray, rather than a 

 pure white. In 1845 a young one of a pure white color was caught at 

 Macassar. 



