ch. xiv.] Sociable Birds. 281 



here. I know of no bird whose melody possesess the 

 ravishing sweetness and variety of melody of this one, its 

 song in the early morning being especially delightful. 

 Were it possible to introduce it, this little stranger would 

 be a most welcome addition to our domesticated song-birds 

 here at home. Space is limited here in this cave, and 

 one has to sit pretty close to the fire. Just after dinner 

 to-night, as I sat making notes in my pocket-book, 

 Smith, in lifting our extemporised kettle off the fire, let 

 it fall, and the boiling water fell over my feet. My boots 

 were off, and the pain was rather hard to bear. " Suong," 

 who is equal to all emergencies, recommends me to put 

 some Avet salt on the scalded portions of my feet, which, 

 to please him, I did, and the pain soon after abated. I 

 was very sorry for this accident, being afraid it would 

 prevent my extending my excursions up the mountain 

 side to-morrow, as I had arranged to do. It is raining 

 very heavily, and Smith reminds me that we have only 

 had two wholly fine days since leaving Labium. 



August 17th. Our cave had become drier, owing to 

 the fire we had constantly kept burning, and we slept 

 well last night. One of our men, on going to his basket 

 this morning, found a rat in it, which he at once secured 

 and killed. It had doubtless been tempted by the warmth 

 and his little store of food. It resembled very nearly the 

 long-tailed grey Norway species, now so common in 

 England, and was quite distinct from the short-tailed, 

 long-snouted kind, of which " Kurow " had trapped two 

 specimens during our first visit here. When our Dusun 

 guides came in, one of them quickly appropriated it as a 

 desirable addition to his edible stores. Our own break- 

 fast this morning was of oatmeal porridge (a nice change 

 from constantly eating rice) and tea and biscuit. I had 

 some difficulty in putting my boots on, owing to the 



