NEW SPECIES 35 



A little group of coco palms, in a corner of the bay, marks 

 a spring from which we obtained good water, and adjacent stood 

 a small leafless tree, whose branches, however, bore quantities 

 of a brilliant red blossom {Ixorn, sp. ?). To this came birds 

 in such numbers that I remained beneath it all the morning. 

 Here I obtained our first specimens of the Andaman sun-bird, 

 a tiny thing with olive back, blue throat, and yellow breast, 

 and also one of the most beautiful of kingfishers {Halcyon satura- 

 tior), a glorious combination of bright chestnut, white, and 

 vivid blues that one could never tire of admiring. Common 

 was the little crested bulbul, clothed in black and white, with 

 crimson ear- coverts, and equally so the brilliant-plumaged oriole, 

 while the sleek-looking Andaman myna, soberly feathered in 

 black and white, occurred in no small numbers. Indeed, birds 

 came and went so quickly, that I was often hard put to it to 

 select the proper cartridge, and frequently three or four speci- 

 mens at a time lay waiting to be stowed away in the game 

 bag. 



Time and place combined to make a naturalist's paradise, 

 and I did not desist from collecting until my stock of 

 wool, paper, and ammunition were exhausted. It must not 

 be thought, however, that such an experience is in any way 

 common, for it is seldom that the work is so easy or the 

 harvest so large. 



Amongst the birds obtained on South Andaman was a 

 pigeon that has since proved to be new {Osmotreron^ sp. nov.) ; 

 while, as far as mammals were concerned, rats of two species — 

 one hitherto unrecorded, Mus taciturnus, sp. nov., and M. 

 andamanensis — were fairly common ; and we were fortunate 

 in obtaining a palm-civet, of the species peculiar to the islands, 

 which for several nights had been committing depredations 

 along the line of traps ; and also a single example of a new 

 shrew {Crocidiwa andamanensis). 



