96 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. v 



Numenius phceopus, with its breast covered with brown 

 spots and its long curved bill, and the ashy egret {Demi- 

 egretta sacra) may be seen wading in the shallow waters, 

 making a splendid meal oS the millions of tiny fish left in 

 the pools at low water. 



The native name for the whimbrels is ' Kerombek.' 

 Meyer says that they ' assemble at sunset in flocks of 

 hundreds, and are very noisy before they go to rest. They 

 also cry at night on the seashore. They run quickly, and 

 are only to be found on the seashore. They feed on Crustacea. 

 Nests on small trees, very simple, of leaves and twigs ; two 

 eggs ' (46). 



These birds do not, I believe, either rest or breed on 

 Talisse, and this perhaps accounts for the fact that I 

 never saw more than one at a time, and never heard them 

 at night. Their food is certainly not confined to Crustacea, 

 for the crop of the specimen I shot was full of small 

 fishes. 



The native name for the egret is ' Sueko ' ; but it must 

 be mentioned that this is only a general name applied to all 

 herons. 



In a small island such as Talisse there is seldom a 

 rich fauna of reptiles. The Crocodilus biporcatus, which is 

 common at the mouths of the large rivers of the mainland 

 of Celebes, and about which there are probably more 

 legends and fables than about any animal except the 

 monkey, is never seen on these small islands. A large 

 lizard {Varanus bivittatus), occasionally seen in the man- 

 grove swamps of Talisse, and the common little gecko 

 (Platydactylus monorchis), found running all over the native 

 huts, are the only two representatives of the order LacertiUa 

 I could find in the island. 



I believe we were quite free from poisonous snakes in 

 Talisse ; and the sole genus which could be considered in 



