34



Mr. R. Phiujpps,



what natural enemy did instinct teach them to conceal them¬

selves? The females sit on their eggs in fear and trembling, and

are ever ready to take refuge in flight. The nestlings, unable to

fly, try to save their skins by squatting flat and remaining im¬

movable. Is their hereditary foe to be looked for in the snake or

in the monkey tribe ? Perhaps the latter. And here I can pic¬

ture to myself some shallow pated clever-one asking the question,

quite innocently of course, “ To what species of monkey did they

recognise a resemblance in Mr. Phillipps?” Imbecile , how could

it be but to Colobiis caudatus, for is not this species universally

acknowledged to be the most handsome of all the handsome

monkeys!


On August 13 the two elder, after playing ’possum for a

moment, stood boldty up, raising their heads towards the open¬

ing. Along their backs and down their necks there were the

usual tracks of feathers, but they were far from being fully

covered ; their tails, less than an inch being visible, shewed the

subterminal band of black quite well marked, especially in the

eldest where the markings were of a deeper black and much

more clearly defined. The forehead shewed the colour of the

adult, or seemed to ; and the salmon-red patch on the chest was

conspicuous. The nostrils were quite covered and hidden; I

could not manage to get a glint of light on to an eye—in the

shade of the log, the irides seemed to be quite black.


So far as I was able to observe, the young in the nest were

practically mute: I never heard them either call for food or

audibly respond to its arrival. Once or twice I fancied I heard a

sort of whimpering when I took hold of the log—and that is all-


I took care, of course, only to approach the nest during

the absence of the parents.


The first young bird to leave the nest, probably the pre¬

cocious youth already referred to, appeared 011 August 22 ; but,

for a few days at any rate, he returned to the nest after a short

outing. For some time, the fledgelings regarded the log as a

haven of refuge; their first thunder-storm, for instance, sent

them cowering back to the log with great precipitancy. No.

2, I think a female, appeared on the 25th. The green of the

general plumage of these two birds was at first very dull, but



