PARROTS 17 



the shore may be attained at the slight expense of a wetting below 

 the knees. 



To escape this unpleasant little journey, we moved a day 

 or two later farther up the strait to where the shore was free 

 from coral, and therefore more accessible, although having 

 reached it, we were confronted by a precipitous cliff of 

 crumbling earth, but when the top was gained, after a zig- 

 zag climb, we moved on level ground covered with heavy 

 jungle. 



The smaller species of birds were very rare here, but we 

 got almost immediately the first specimen of the island parrots — 

 the brilliant green Palceornis magnirostris. This bird is the 

 local representative of a continental form, from which it differs 

 only in the enormous size of the bill, which in the male is 

 of bright scarlet. 



It is a somewhat callous thing to attempt to do, but should 

 one succeed in only severely wounding a parrot, others of the 

 species are sure to be obtained. The cries of the injured 

 bird so attract its companions that they will gather near from 

 all parts within hearing, and seem so possessed with curiosity 

 to know what is wrong, as to be, for the time, perfectly oblivious 

 of the collector and his gun, while they sit around or fly nearer 

 and nearer to their wounded companion and answer its loud 

 croaking notes with others equally harsh. 



Parrots of three species were very numerous, and perhaps 

 the most frequent noise in the jungle was their shrill scream, 

 uttered as they flew from tree to tree. Many big black crows, 

 too, flopped — a word which exactly describes their movement 

 — noisily about, and, when hidden by a screen of leaves, we 

 mimicked their cawing notes, more bewildered birds it would 

 be difficult to find. In these woods the larger birds were 

 fairly common, and the traps obtained for us numerous rats of 

 two varieties, one of which squealed pitifully when approached 

 {^Mus stoicus, sp. nov., and M. flebilis, sp. nov.). 



The Archipelago is inhabited by a tribe known as Aka- 

 Balawa, now on the verge of extinction, as it numbers only 



