cn Ar. X X XVI . 1 NATIFE /ilfi fi-CATCllICRS. 



533 



small bag, and consequently its tail and wing featlu>rs 

 very much crushed aud iiijut-ed. I tried to explain tn 

 liim, and to tlie others that came with liiin, that I wanted 

 them as perfect as possihle, and that they should either 

 kill theiu, or keep them on a perch with a strin<^ t^> their 

 leg. As tliey were now apparently Siitistietl that all wa^ 

 fair, and that I had no ulterior designs upon them, six 

 others took away j^iwds ; some for one bird, some for more, 

 and one for as many as six. They said tliey had to go a 

 long way for them, and that they would come back as soon 

 as they "cauglit any. At intervals of a few days or a week, 

 some of them would return, brin;4ing me one or more birds ; 

 hut thongh they did not bring any more in ha^'s, there was 

 not much improvement in their condition. As they cau(;ht 

 tbem a long way off in the tbre.st, they would scar-cely 

 ever come with one, but would tie it by the leg to a 

 stick, and put it in their house till they caught another. 

 The poor creature would make violent efforts to escape, 

 would get among the aslies, or hang suspended by the leg 

 till the limb was swollen and half-putrefied, and sometimes 

 die of star\'atiou and worry. One had its beautiful head all 

 defiled by pitch from a dammar torch ; another had been 

 so long dead that its stomach was turning gR^en, Luckily, 

 however, the skin and plumage of tlie.su Idrds is so firm 

 and strong, that they bear washing and cleaning better 

 than almost any other sort ; and 1 was generally able to 

 clean them so well that they did not perceptibly differ 

 from those I harl shot myself. 



Souje few were brought me the same day they were 

 caught, and I had au opportunity of examining tliem in 

 all their beauty and vivacity. As soon as I found they 

 were generally brought alive, I set one of my men to 

 make a large bamboo cage with troughs for food and 

 water, hoping Ui lie a!>le to keep some of them. I got 

 the natives to bring me branches of a fruit they were 

 very fond of, imd 1 was pleased to find they ate it 

 greedily, and would also take aiiy number of live grass- 

 hoppers I gave them, stripping off the legs and wings, ami 

 then swallowing them. They drank plenty of water, and 

 were in constjitit motion, jumping abont the ca.ue from 

 perch to perch, clinging on the top aiid sides, and rarely 



