1888.] ZOOLOGY OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. 249 



be hardly said to belong to the Solomon group at all. I have 

 noticed, especially on the island of Malayta, that the Pigeons leave 

 the mainland of the large islands and resort at night in thousands to 

 roost on the small detached islands off the coast. I can only account 

 for this fact by the supposition that they find themselves free from 

 the attacks of the large Monitor Lizards, which would not he so 

 plentiful there as on the mainland. 



Among Parrots the wide-ranging Eclectus polychloros is common, 

 and several Lories, the handsome Lorius cardinalis not being found 

 elsewhere, while the minute Nasiterna of two or three species is 

 occasionally met with. These most interesting little birds creep 

 about on the trunks of the large trees like tree-creepers, their tails 

 being furnished with pointed feathers for the purpose. It is an 

 extremely interesting fact that the Cockatoo peculiar to the Solomons 

 (Cacatua ducorpsi) does not extend to the island of San Christoval 

 and smaller islands adjacent ; and the same is the case with the Horn- 

 bill (Buceros jjiicatus), the island of Guadalcanar being consequently 

 the most eastern limit of the extension of these two genera. 



At a certain time of the year, when the bright red flowers of the 

 coral-tree {Erythrina) are conspicuous among the bright green 

 foliage of the forest, the Lories resort to them in large numbers, and 

 the natives spreading fine nets near the trees catch them in consider- 

 able quantities. I have had as many as fifty of different species 

 brought me in one day, the neck being invariably broken by their • 

 struggles in the net. 



-■»&' 



On Guadalcanar I was fortunate enough to discover a new Crow 

 (llacrocorax woodfordi), but I believe it to be extremely local, and 

 confined to a part only of that island. I did not meet with it or hear 

 of it at other places that I visited, nor have other collectors m.et with 

 it. At Aola, on Guadalcanar, where I made my headquarters for six 

 months, it was extreme])- plentiful. 



One of the most interesting birds I met with was the Mega- 

 podius brenchleyi — a bird allied to the mound-building Talegalla of 

 Australia. This species was first described from a fresh-hatched 

 specimen brought home by the late Julius Brenchley, and figured in 

 his ' Voyage of the Cura9oa.' This bird, although only about the 

 size of a large pigeon, lays an egg bigger than that of a duck. It 

 is commonly distributed throughout the group, and allied species 

 are, I believe, found on the groups to the east and south-east ; but it 

 is upon the island of Savo that it is found in the greatest abundance. 

 Here the eggs form an important item in the daily food-supply of 

 the natives, and I have bought, when calling there, as many as ten 

 eggs for one stick of tobacco, value about three farthings. The Savo 

 natives have a curious legend connected with this bird. They hold 

 the Shark in great veneration, and say that their island was made by 

 the Shark, who brought the stones together and placed upon them 

 a man, a woman, the yam-plant, and the Megapode. Things went 

 well for a time, and the people increased, and so did the Megapodes. 

 \.i last the people went to the Shark and comjilained that the Mega- 

 podes made much havoc among the yam-patches by digging holes 



