IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



nose, somewhat hooked at its extremity, it is, indeed, difficult to 

 say. According to the Darwinian theory, it might possibly be 

 attributed to sexual selection. If such were the case, we might, 

 perhaps, congratulate this monkey on its good taste. The nose is, 

 no doubt, an important feature in mankind, and furnishes important 

 racial characters as well as individual distinctions ; but as far as I 

 am aware no one has hitherto sought for an explanation of the very 

 various shapes which it assumes. As it can scarcely be admitted 

 that mere sexual selection has influenced the shape and length of 

 the nose, we must suppose that its modification can only be due to 

 use. But it is not easy to determine what external stimuli can 

 have caused such modifications of the organ. Defence of the respira- 

 tory passages against the introduction of foreign particles may be 

 one cause ; i.e., the phagocytic action against pathogenic micro- 

 organisms floating in the air. Again, special sensorial stimuli may 

 have come into play tending to the extension of the sensorial surface. 

 Analogous causes (i.e., the direction in which such sensorial func- 

 tions are brought into action) may have influenced the position of the 

 opening of the nostrils. As a case in point it is worthy of note that 

 races of men who have lived from time immemorial in open coun- 

 tries, for instance the Semitic people, are furnished with prominent 

 noses having narrow nostrils directed downwards ; whilst Negroes 

 and Malays, for the most part dwellers in the forest, have snub noses 

 with wide nostrils turned upwards, such as characterise most 

 monkeys. It may be further noted that in the human race nasal 

 development has progressed from the equator towards Central Asia, 

 where it appears to have reached its maximum of development. 



Considering the very large number of species of birds which live in 

 the Bornean forests, it was remarkable how few were brought to us 

 alive. The " burong siul " (Rollulus rouloul) — " burong " means bird 

 in Malay — was one of the few we got. It thrives easily in captivity, 

 and is a handsome species about the size of a partridge, of fine 

 dark coloration, a deep sheeny green and chestnut brown pre- 

 dominating ; the cock has a curious crest of purplish brown 

 feathers. But the best cage-bird is undoubtedly the mynah (Gra- 

 cula javanensis), a general favourite, which easily learns entire 

 phrases, imitating the human voice far better than parrots do. 

 Doria and I brought back from Sarawak some 800 bird-skins, repre- 

 senting 226 species. This collection has formed the basis of a book 

 by Count T. Salvadori on the avifauna of Borneo, being vol. ii. of 

 the Annali del Museo Civico di Genova. In this work no less than 

 392 species are described, but the learned author writes to me that 

 the known species of birds of this great island are now double the 

 number of those enumerated in 1874, when his work was published. 

 It is, however, a strange but true fact that the Bornean avifauna has 

 few forms which are peculiar to it and which give it a marked physi- 



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