54 BATCEIAN. [chap. xxiv. 



The most interesting birds I obtained here, were the 

 beautiful blue kingfisher, Todiramphus diops; the fine 

 green and purple doves, Ptilonopus superbus and P. 

 iogaster, and several new birds of small size. My shooters 

 stUl brought me in specimens of the Semioptera Wallacei, 

 and I was greatly excited by the positive statements of 

 several of the native hunters that another species of this 

 bird existed, much handsomer and more remarkable. They 

 declared that the plumage was glossy black, with metallic 

 green breast as in my species, but that the white shoulder 

 plumes were twice as long, and hung down far below the 

 body of the bird. They declared that when hunting pigs 

 or deer far in the forest they occasionally saw this bird, 

 but that it was rare. I immediately offered twelve guilders 

 (a pound) for -a specimen ; but all in vain, and I am to this 

 day uncertain whether such a bird exists. Since I left, 

 the German naturalist, Dr. Bernstein, stayed many months 

 in the island with a large staff of hunters collecting for 

 the Leyden Museum ; and as he was not more successful 

 than myself, we must consider either that the bird is very 

 rare, or is altogether a myth. 



Batchian is remarkable as being the most eastern point 

 on the globe inhabited by any of the Quadrumana. A 

 large black baboon-monkey (Oynopithecus nigrescens) is 

 abundant in some parts of the forest. This animal has 

 bare red callosities, and a rudimentary tail about an inch 



