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have been made to stop this traffic, but it is very difficult, as the

Chinaman’s idea seems to be that everything alive was made to eat.


Here, too, were many old Australian favourites, Swainson’s Lorikeets,

various finches, etc. There were various Mynahs, and one of the

small “ Island ” Cockatoos ( K . sulphur ea). I noticed many Ring¬

necked Parrakeets, but they were not the Indian ones. The native

market was searched in vain for pheasants, but I did not know then

that all the Malayan Pheasants are strictly protected, none is allowed

to be exported or sold and no pheasants of any kind from Malaya are

brought to this country. Those which we get are from Siam, Borneo,

and Sumatra. At one time I believe Fire-backs were offered in the

market for food. A pathetic sight in the livestock market in Kuala

Lumpur was a number of cages of little fat woolly puppies intended

for Chinese “ chow ”, though I don’t see there’s a great difference

between eating a puppy or a lamb. It is just a question of custom.


Ever since my acquaintance with the tropics, mangrove swamps

have proved a never-ending source of interest. In fact, to anyone

interested in Nature, the exploration of these so-called abodes of

fever provides a fascinating study. These swamps are an Eldorado

for every branch of Zoology—for the ornithologist, the pisciculturist,

the entomologist, etc. The swamps have their own special forms of

life, which are not found elsewhere. There are even many species

of Sunbirds which are found only in these places, and they are specially

the haunt of Kingfishers.


Most of the West Coast of the Malay Peninsula is fringed with

vast tracts of these marine forests and nothing gave me greater pleasure

than to hire a “ sampan ” and leisurely drift with the tide up the

endless creeks which intersect these vast areas of “no man’s land ”.

It is here that one sees the most brilliant Malayan birds, for little

of this area has been interfered with by Man, except near towns,

where the trees have been cut down for firewood. Inland where the

forests originally were, the land has been cleared for vast plantations

of rubber estates and with the disappearance of the native flora both

the birds and the insects have vanished. In fact one sees very few

birds in Malaya except where the indigenous forest has been left.

Rubber planters will tell you: “ Oh, there are no birds in Malaya



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