PHEASANT PIGEON 219 



ticle of clothing. I went to the storehouse, and 

 opening a bale of blankets distributed some among 

 them. 



Loading ourselves, and the natives we had hired, 

 with provisions and ammunition, we returned to 

 Narinuma, arriving there at evening, very tired. 



As we remained at Narinuma a long time, and were 

 collecting every day while there, we procured some 

 splendid specimens of both birds and insects in the 

 adjacent fields and forests, and I will briefly mention 

 a few of the more interesting. 



In the densest forest lives the pheasant pigeon (Chal- 

 copliaps), a bird the size of a bantam cock, and richly 

 colored. His wings are rusty brown ; rump and tail, 

 blue and black, with metallic reflections ; head, black ; 

 under parts, brown ; and back, rusty brown, pink, or 

 purple, according to the light in which he is seen. He 

 is very shy, and lives mostly on the ground. We 

 secured two only of this species. 



A very plain, but, nevertheless, exceedingly interest- 

 ing, species is the New Guinea bower-bird (Chlamydo- 

 dera). The male sings sweetly, though it is not for his 

 voice that this bird is noted, but for the bower or play- 

 house that he constructs. It is composed of short 

 sticks, placed on the ground in such a way that their 

 tops meet, making a covered arch. At each end, the 

 ground is littered for several feet with all the bright 

 and gaudy things which the birds can find : such as 



