44G THE JRU ISLANDS. [cillp. ijkxi. 



the metallic greeu throat or yellow plumes of the full- 

 grown biixi All that I hiid yet seen re^^mbled tiua, and 

 the natives told me that it would be about two montlia 

 before any would be found iu full plumage. I still liopcd, 

 therefore, to get some. Their voice is oiost extraordinary. 

 At early morn, before the sun has risen, we hear a loud 

 cry of " Wawk — wawk — wawk, wok — wSk— wijk/' which 

 resounds through the forest, changing its direaiou cou- 

 tinually. This ia the Great iBird of Paradise going to seek 

 his breakfast Others soon follow his example ; lories and 

 parroquets cry shrilly, cockatoos scream, kiug-huntera 

 crook and bark, and the various smaller birds cliirp and 

 whistle their morning song. As I lie listening to these 

 interesting sounds, I realize my position as the fh'st 

 European who has ever lived for months together in the 

 Aru islands, a place which I bad hoped rather than 

 expected ever to visit. I think how many besides myself 

 have longed to reach these almost fairy ixnilms, and to see 

 with their own eyes the many wouderfal and beautiful 

 things which I am daDy encountering. But now AU 

 and Baderoon are up and getting ready tlioir guns and 

 ammunition, and little Base htis his fire liglited and is 

 boiling my coflee, and 1 remember that 1 had a black 

 cockatoo brought in late last night, which I must skin 

 immediately, and so I jump up and begin my day's work 

 verj' happily. 



This cockatoo is the first I have seen, and is a great 

 prize. It has a rather small and weak body, long weak 

 legs, large wings, and an enormously developod head, 

 ornamented with a nmgniticent crest, and armed ^vith a 

 sharp-pointed hooked bill of immense size and strength. 

 The plumage is eutii-ely black, but has all over it the 

 curious powdery white secretion characteristic of cockatoos. 

 The cheeks are bare, and of an intense blood- red colour. 

 Instead of the hariah scream of the white cockatoos, its 

 voice is a somewhat plaintive whistla The tongue is a 

 curious oi-gan, being a slender fleshy cylinder of a deep 

 red colour, tenninated by a horny black plate, furrowed 

 across and somewhat prehensile. The whole tongue has 

 a considerable extensile power, I will here relate some- 

 tliiug of the habits of this bird, with which I have aincd 



