WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. 149 



The day following my father's return to the yacht was a 

 very hard one, for there were many specimens to skin, and he 

 and Cockerell were going day and night to catch up with the 

 material as it came in. 



Under date of the 21st my father writes: — "Late last night 

 and all day to-day Cockerell and I have been skinning, and 

 have not yet cleared up. I have now obtained several "great 

 birds" from the natives, but I am paying dearly for them, for 

 I have to give a gun for each one — guns which cost me £3 15/ 

 each ; 'but I came here expressly for the great bird of paradise, 

 and I am determined to have them at all cost. They are only 

 found on two islands in the Arus, and are most glorious birds, 

 as big as a crow, with most beautiful floating golden plumes 

 more than two feet long. The bird is excessively shy, and 

 lives in the densest part of the scrubs; the natives alone know 

 their haunts. A number of birds and other things came in 

 to-day brought by the natives." Next morning early my 

 father and Cockerell were at it again, and it was not till nearly 

 dark when all the material was finished up. Cockerell 

 cleaned up the skinning room while my father packed away 

 specimens to make room. A few small birds came in that 

 day, and they were cured before turning in that night. The 

 r next morning, the 23rd of July, some natives came off to the 

 yacht very early, and brought three full plumed Paradisea 

 apoda, and one half -plumed bird. These were purchased with 

 guns, powder, and axes. After breakfast Cockerell went up 

 the creek on the Wokan side of the Watalee Channel and re- 

 turned in the evening with one King Bird of Paradise 

 (Paradisea regia), and several other species. Under the above 

 date Samuel White writes: — "I remained on board to-day to 

 skin two or three "great birds", for I want to make sure of 

 ,good skins. I have paid away a great deal in trade for these 

 birds now, but I find the only way to get the rare and shy bird 

 is to offer an exhorbitant price for it. There are natives 

 Ihunting for the plumes of these birds in every part of Mykor 

 and Wokan, and I feel sure these fine birds will be wiped out 

 in the very near future. This evening a few small birds came 

 in. The weather has been showery all day." My father 

 writing again on the 24th says : — "I kept my two taxidermists 

 in with me to-day, for there were many animals and birds to 

 skin. I have given orders to Cockerell to keep to the birds, 

 and have put Andrews on to the mammals and reptiles. The 

 latter does not make as good a skin of the 1 birds as I would 

 like. The natives were off in several lots to-day, and brought 



