891 
ch. xiv] FLYCATCHERS, ETC. 
were cormorants and snake-birds. Fish-eagles screamed 
as they circled around—very handsome birds, the head, 
neck, tail, breast, and forepart of the back white, the 
rest of the plumage black and rich chestnut. There 
was a queer little eagle owl with inflamed red eyelids. 
The black and red bulbuls sang noisily. There were 
many kingfishers, some no larger than chippy sparrows, 
and many of them brilliantly coloured; some had, and 
others had not, the regular kingfisher voice; and while 
some dwelt by the river bank and caught fish, others 
did not come near the water and lived on insects. 
There were paradise flycatchers, with long, wavy white 
tails ; and olive-green pigeons, with yellow bellies. Red¬ 
headed, red-tailed lizards ran swiftly up and down the 
trees. The most extraordinary birds were the nightjars; 
the cocks carried in each wing one very long, waving 
plume, the pliable quill being twice the length of the 
bird’s body and tail, and bare except for a patch of dark 
feather webbing at the end. The two big, dark plume 
tips were very conspicuous, trailing behind the bird as 
it flew, and so riveting the observer’s attention as to 
make the bird itself almost escape notice. When seen 
flying, the first impression conveyed was of two large, 
dark moths or butterflies fluttering rapidly through the 
air; it was with a positive effort of the eye that I fixed 
the actual bird. The big slate and yellow bats were 
more interesting still. There were several kinds of bats 
at this camp; a small dark kind that appeared only 
when night had fallen and flew very near the ground all 
night long, and a somewhat larger one, lighter beneath, 
which appeared late in the evening and flew higher in 
the air. Both of these had the ordinary bat habits of 
continuous, swallow-like flight. But the habits of the 
slate and yellow bats were utterly different. They were 
