20 CAGAYAN SULU. [chap. i. 



branches, thickly clothed with broad fleshy leaves, stretched far 

 out over the water. The tree w^as in fruit and flower, and its 

 bright-stamened, tassel-like blossoms and large quadrangular nuts 

 carpeted the ground below. The latter is a " common object of the 

 seashore " in the Malay Islands, and is much used by natives to 

 catch flsh. The fruit is pounded and thrown into the water, and 

 the fish, rising to the surface in a stupefied condition, are easily 

 secured. 



We were too much occupied to spend our time in searching for 

 objects of natural history, but the forest by the beach seemed 

 silent and deserted. Animal life indeed, so far as we could judge 

 from our short visit, appeared singularly meagre in Cagayan Sulu, 

 a fact that is perhaps accounted for by the island being, geologically 

 speaking, of comparatively recent formation. Crocodiles and 

 Hydrosauri of course exist, and, according to the natives, the rat 

 and the Kraw {Macacus cynomolgus), a common Bornean monkey. 

 We did not, however, obtain either of the two latter. With regard 

 to the birds, the few species we collected or identified were 

 interesting, as showing the island to have been peopled with 

 immigrants both from the Philippines and Borneo, though, as 

 might be expected from its proximity, chiefly from the latter 

 country.-^ We were fortunate enough, in spite of the comparative 

 paucity of birds, to find one new species — a pretty thrush-breasted 

 Mixornis — closely allied to a Bornean bird of that genus ; and on 

 the whole, taking into consideration our two other discoveries, we 

 felt that our visit to this little-known " gem of the ocean " had not 

 been entirely unsuccessful. 



^ Cf. Paper by the author on Cagayan Sulu : " Proceedings Zoolog. Soc. ." 1885, 

 p. 417. 



