BIRDS OF JAVA. 
223 
pleasantly acid and refreshing; and the durian, malodorous in the 
extreme, but to the palate tasting like " fresh cream and filberts." 
On the higher ground flourishes the useful bamboo, which the 
natives utilize for the walls of their huts, their masts, spear-handles, 
baskets, utensils, and implements. Still higher, we come to the lofty fig 
or waringin, the liquidamber, and the cotton-wood tree, while orchids 
of the most marvellous forms grow upon trunks and branches. Above 
the region of the fig we enter that of the oaks and laurels, and then 
ascend to the zone of the rubiaceae, the heaths, and conifers. 
It is between 2000 and 5000 feet above the sea that the forests 
and ravines of Java display the greatest development of tropical 
beauty and luxuriance. Tlie plenitude of noble tree-ferns, sometimes 
fifty feet high, adds largely to the general effect, since of all the forms 
of tropical vegetation they are the most beautiful and impressive. Deep 
ravines which have been cleared of timber are thick with ferny growth 
from top to bottom ; and when the road crosses one of these romantic 
basins, the view of their feathery crests, in varied positions above and 
below the eye, is so picturesque and strangely lovely as, once seen, 
never to be forgotten. Scarcely less striking is the prospect offered by 
the broad-leaved musacese and zingiberacese, with their splendid 
foliage, and curious and brilliant flowers ; and the varied forms of 
plants akin to begonia and melastoma. 
THE BIRDS OF JAVA. 
And now let us say something about the birds which breed and 
multiply among all this glorious vegetable growth, or in the low rich 
lands which have been brought under cultivation. 
We give the first place to one of the smallest, because it is also the 
most numerous — the rice-eater (Fringilla oryzivora). As soon as the 
rice is nearly grown, this bird descends in countless flocks on the 
appetizing crop, intent upon levying their tithe. The Malays, how- 
ever, are on their guard. In the midst of the field a little bamboo hut, 
just large enough to shelter its occupant from the deluges of rain and 
the burning sun-glow, is perched upon poles high above the rice-stalks. 
Rows of tall, flexible stakes are placed around each field, and con- 
