52(5 



WJIGIOU. 



[criAP. xx^vi. 



daj our roof was again tiiken to pieces, and we came to 

 tlie conclusion that the fault was a want of slope (ioougli 

 in tlie rofif for mats, although it would be sutficieiit for 

 the usual atrtiip thatcL I tlierotbre purchased a few uew 

 and Bonie old attaps, and in the parts these would not 

 cover we put the mats double, and then at last had the 

 satisfaction of finding out roof tolerably water-tight 



I was now able to begin working at the natu7"al history 

 of the island. When t first amved I wns surprist^d at 

 being told that there were no Paradise Birds at ]^luka, 

 although there were plenty at Bossir, a place where the 

 natives caught them and prepared the skins. I assured 

 the people I had heard the cry of these birds close to 

 the village, but they would not believe that I could 

 know their cry. However, the very flret time I went 

 into the forest I not only heard but saw thcni, and 

 was convinced there were plenty about; but they were 

 very shy, and it was some time before we got any. My 

 hunter first shot a female, and I one day got yeiy close to 

 a fine male. He was, as I expected, the rare red species, 

 Faradisea rubra, which alone ioliabits this island, and is 

 found nowhere else. He was quite low down, i-unning 

 along a bough searching for insects, almost like a wood- 

 pecker, and the long black riband-like filaments ia hia 

 tail hung down in the most graceful double cun^e imagin- 

 able. I covered him with my gun, and was going to use 

 tlie barrel wliich had a very small charge of powder and 

 number eight shot, so as not to injure his plumage, but 

 the gun missed fire, and he was ofi" in an instant among 

 the thickest jungle. Another day we saw no less than 

 eight fine males at different times, and fired four times at 

 them ; but though other Ui-ds at the same distance almost 

 always dropped, these all got away, and I began to think 

 we were not to get this magnificent species. At length the 

 fruit ripened on the fig-tree close by my house, and many 

 birds ciime to feed on it ; and one morning, as I was taking 

 my cofiee, a male Paradise Bird was seen to settle on its 

 top. I seized my gun, ran under the tree, and, gazing up, 

 could see it flying across from branch to branch, seizing a 

 fruit here and another there, and then, before I cmdd get 

 a sufficient aim to shoot at such a height (for it was one of 



