L38 



TIMOR. 



[chap. xuj. 



The mail steamer did not arrive for a week, and I 

 occupied myself in ^jetting as many of the birds as I could, 

 an<i found some wluch wei*e very interesting, Ainon^? 

 these were tive species of pigeons, of as many distinct 

 genera, and most of them peculiar to the island ; two 

 parrots— the fine red-win^^ed broad-tail (Platycereus vulne- 

 ratus), alUed to an Australian species, and a green species 

 of the genus GeofTroyiis. The Tropidorhynehus tiniorensis 

 was as ubiquitous and as noisy as I had found it at 

 Lombock; and the Spbsecothem viridis, a curious green 

 oriole, with l):ire red orbits, was a great acquisition. There 

 were several pretty finches, warblers, and ilycatchei-s, and 

 among them 1 obtained the elegant blue and red Cyorais 

 hyacinthina ; but I cannot recognise among my collections 

 the species mentioneil by Pampier, who seems to have 

 been much struck by the number of small song-bii'ds in 

 Timor. He says: "One sort ctf those pretty little birds 

 my men called the ringing bird, because it had six notes, 

 and always repeated all his notes twice, one after the 

 other, beginning liigh and shrill and endii^g low. The 

 bird was about tlic bigness of a lark, having a small sharp 

 black bdl and blue wings, tlie head and breast were of a 

 ]>ale red, and there was a blue streak about its neck/' In 

 Semao monkeys are abundant. They are the common 

 hare4ipped monkey (Macacus cynomolgus), wbieh is found 

 all over the western islands of the Archipelago, and may 

 have been introduced by natives, who often cany it about 

 captive. There are also some deer, but it is not quite 

 certain whether they are of the same species as are found 

 in Java. 



I arrived at Delli, the capital of the Portuguese pos- 

 sessions in Timor, on January 12, 1861, and wa.s kindly 

 received by Captain Hart, an Englishman and an old resi- 

 dent, who trades in the produce of the countiy and cidti- 

 vates eoflee on an estate at the foot of the hills. AVith 

 him 1 was introduced to Mr. Geach, a nnning-engineei 

 who had been for two years endeavouring to disiiovei 

 copper in sutlicient quantity to be worth working. 



Delli is a most miserable place compared with even the 

 poorest of the Dutcli towns. Tbe houses are all of mud 

 and thatch \ the fort is only a mud enclosure ; and the 



