166 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIII. 



had brought in. We got here Cassowaries, Goura Pigeons, two 

 large grey hawks, a very large swift, bandicoots, an iguana, and 

 two beautiful fruit-pigeons, Megaloprepia poliura and Ftilopus 

 zonurus (Salvad.) I spent a good deal of time in this neigh- 

 bourhood looking for the nest of the raggiana, the bird being 

 plentiful here, but without success. I think the nesting probably 

 takes place in the low scrub where old gardens have been. 

 Dermou, one of my boys, often brought in fish and prawns from 

 the creek. 



When travelling from Sogeri plantation, and before reaching the 

 Laloki River, we found a tree-house two miles to the right of the 

 track. The natives had deserted their village, Oregenumu, and 

 were building tree-houses. They said they were returning to the 

 custom of their forefathers, and were going to build no more 

 houses on the ground, Ekiri, a neighbouring village, having been 

 recently massacred by the mountain tribes. 



On our way into port we stopped one whole day at Sapphire 

 Creek, where it enters the Laloki River below the Roma Falls, so 

 that we might travel over the hot plain country at night. The 

 river was very low, and the boys employed themselves catching 

 fish. They caught ten in a short time, some of which must have 

 weighed over 2 lbs. The natives had a net about the size of a 

 tennis racquet in each hand with which they dived into the water- 

 holes. The fish, being scared by the divers, hid under the rocks 

 and in crevices, where they were caught in the nets and brought 

 to the surface. 



We arrived safely at Port Moresby 13th December, having 

 been away in the bush for nearly seven weeks. 



We had shot eleven species of birds of paradise, eleven species 

 of pigeons, six parrots, and many other birds, among which the 

 following have not already been mentioned : — Lorius erythro- 

 thorax, Charmosyna stellce, Peltops blainvillei, and Senicophaps 

 albifrons. I collected thirty-one species of birds' eggs, and 

 seventy species of butterflies and moths, most of which were 

 large and bright-coloured. Amongst the plants I had seen seven 

 varieties of begonia, four varieties of what I think is a balsam, 

 two coleus, and a great variety of orchids. 



As there appeared to be a difference of opinion amongst 

 people I had spoken to in port as to the nature of the food of 

 the birds of paradise, I opened the crops of each species we shot 

 and examined the contents. 



The Raggianas had the soft pulp of an orange-coloured fruit, 

 called by the natives varvio, in their crops, sometimes other fruit, 

 and occasionally a tree grasshopper. The crop of a King bird 

 contained wild banana pulp and seeds ; that of the Rifle-bird 

 contained in one case very hard, large seeds, and in another soft 

 fruit and a tree grasshopper. The other birds all had various 



