122 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. 



macrurus) is one of the most familiar sounds during moon- 

 light nights. At daybreak the chatter of the Java sparrows 

 assures one of its being high time to rise. Cuming's 

 mound bird {Megapodius Cumingi) is found in Labuan, 

 but is more common on the islets of Kuraman, where its 

 nests are met with in mounds of earth, three to four feet 

 in height, and twelve feet in cii'cumference. 



Even the Nicobar pigeon visits this island ; and a 

 solitary hoopoo was shot there during my visit. Two 

 species of great beaked hornbills inhabit the forest ; and 

 there are three or four species of swallows. One of the 

 prettiest of aU the small birds is a long-tailed green and 

 brown fly-catcher, which might easily be mistaken for a 

 swallow, so swift and graceful is its flight. A large 

 red kingfisher {Halcyon caromanda), found here, builds 

 its nest in a peculiar manner, as described by Mr. Sharpe, 

 in Proc. Zool. Soc, 1879, part ii., p. 331 : — 



" The nest is said to be pendulous, and invariably to 

 be accompanied in the same mass by a bee, which is 

 peculiarly vicious, so that the nest can only be robbed 

 after destroying the bees." 



The interior of the island is flat and marshy ; and 

 here the soil being deep and alluvial, it is well adapted 

 for rice ; and the wet patches beside the streams suit the 

 sago palm well. In the patches of low jungle beside the 

 roads three or four species of pitcher plants abound, 

 rooting into the wet, sandy peat earth, and climbing up 

 the shrubby undergrowth in the most luxuriant and 

 graceful manner. These nepenthes stems are wonder- 

 fully tough, and are used as withes, and as a substitute 

 for rattan cane in tying fence timbers together. More 

 rarely they are used in basket-work. The kinds most 

 common in Labuan are N. gracilis, several varieties, 

 N. nivea, and A'', ampullaria. There are five or six species 



