ix] BIRDS ON MATTANG 



On Mattang there was a great scarcity of birds, not only as 

 regards species, but individuals. The Great Hornbill (Buceros 

 rhiHoceros) was one of the few common kinds to be seen. Hardly 

 a day passed whilst I was there without my coming across a couple 

 of these strange birds, whose presence is made very evident by the 

 tremendous noise they make when on the wing, a noise which recalls 

 that of an approaching railway train. When flying in pairs, more- 

 over, these hornbills utter a loud and peculiar call, which can be 

 heard at a great distance — " N'gam-gok, N'gam-gok" repeated 

 several times in succession, a peculiarity which has earned for the 

 bird the name of burong n'gam among the Malays. It is in every 

 respect a singular creature, with its enormous bill surmounted by 

 a curious red helmet, the object and utility of which is a mystery. 

 This strange bill is in great request as a head and ear ornament 

 amongst the Dyaks ; the Chinese also prize it, and pay as much as 

 a dollar for a single head. The hornbill is probably quite as proud 

 of its enormous bill and red helmet as the Dyak is when he adorns 

 himself with the cumbrous eardrops which he makes with it. The 

 birds can hardly feel comfortable with this huge appendage, and 

 yet, as most ladies do, they submit, or rather have submitted, to 

 the tyranny of fashion, in order to attain that special ideal of beauty 

 during a determined psychological moment. 



The monstrous bill of B. rhinoceros, besides being very much in the 

 way, appears also badly adapted to the sort of food preferred by 

 these birds, which consists mostly of the fruits of various species of 

 Ficus. These the hornbill easily plucks with its bill, but it is then 

 obliged to throw each fruit high up in the air, and catch it with 

 open mandibles and a clever jerk. Birds of this species live easily 

 in captivity, always taking their food in the peculiar way just 

 described. 



Of the few mammals found on Mattang I only obtained a porcu- 

 pine, which my men discovered one day in a hollow trunk lying on 

 the ground. We pushed the creature out with a long pole, and 

 secured it with a blow on the head when it emerged. Except a 

 few tupaias and squirrels, I hardly ever met with a mammal during 

 my wanderings in the forest. Even monkeys were scarce there. 



Night after night I used to hear the call of the " burong ruei " 

 of the Malays, the beautiful Argus pheasant. It is extremely 

 difficult to shoot this bird, and it is usually caught with nooses 

 carefully set in the forest. But on Mattang none of my men were 

 proficient in this art of bird catching. Only once in the forest did 

 I get a glimpse of an Argus ; but I frequently found its broad wing- 

 feathers, so wonderful for the row of eyes, the dots, and the vermi- 

 culations, produced in infinite shadings of brown, which adorn it. 



The Bornean Argus (Argusianus grayi) is considered distinct 

 from the one found in Sumatra and on the Malay Peninsula (A. 



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