523 



tFAFQlOif. 



[CHAP. XXXVI, 



Tliis bird differs very much from the two large apeciea 

 wbich I bad already obtained, and, although it wante the 

 grace imparted by their long <^olden trains, h in many 

 respects more remarkable and more beautiful. Tlie liead, 

 back, and shoulders are clothed with a richer yellow, the 

 deep metallic green colour of the throat extends further over 

 the head, and the feathera are elongated on the foreliead 

 into two Httle erectile crests. Tlie aide plumea ar© shorter, 

 but are of a rich red colour, terminating in delicate white 

 points, and the middle tail-feathera are represented by two 

 long rigid glossy ribands, ^vhich are black, thin, and senii- 

 cylindricah and droop gracefully in a spiral curve. Seveml 

 other interesting birds were obttiined, and about half-a- 

 dozen quite new one« ; but none of any remarkable beauty, 

 except the lovely little dove, Ptdonopus pulchellus, wliich 

 with several other pigeons I shot on the same fig-tree 

 close to my house. It is of a beautiful green colour al)ove, 

 with a foiTihead of the richest crimson, while beneath it 

 is ashy white and rich yellow, banded with violet red. 



Oo the evening of our arrival at JIuka I obsei'ved what 

 appeared like a display of Aurora Borealis, though I could 

 hardly believe that this was possible at a point a little 

 south of the equator. The night was clear and calm, and 

 the northern sky presented a dillused light, with a constant 

 sticcession of faint vertical flashings or Uickerings, exactly 

 similar to an ordinary aurora in England. The next day 

 was fine,, but after that the weather was unprecedentedly 

 bad, considering that it ought to have been the dry 

 monsoon. For near a month we had wet weather ; the sun 

 either not appearhig at aU, or only for an hour or two 

 about noon. Morniog and evening, as w^ell ag nearly all 

 night, it rained or drizzled, and boisterous winds, with dark 

 clouds, formed the daily progmmnie. With tlie exception 

 that it was never cold, it was just such weather as a very 

 bad English November or Febmary, 



The people of Waigiou am not truly indigenes of the 

 i.sland, which possesses no " Alfuros," or aboriginal in- 

 liabitant^. Tliey appear to be a mixed race, partly from 

 Gdolo, partly from New Guinea, Malays and Alfui'os 

 from the former island have probaldy settled here, and 

 many of them have taken l*apuan wives from Salwatty or 



