NORTH BORNEO. 
53 
is little doubt that, in any countries which are suitable to a white population, the native, 
even if he adapts himself to our civilization, is doomed to disappear, which, judging by our 
rate of increase, will be at no very distant date. 
Now let us descend from man to the lower animals: amongst those domesticated by 
man the result of my inquiries tended in the same direction ; the litters of dogs, cats, and 
pigs seldom exceed three in number in these countries, and are not more frequent than, if as 
frequent as, those of animals in colder latitudes. 
Let us make the great zoological order of Aves our especial study for a few minutes, 
and we shall see that the low rate of increase is still the same. To prove this I have com¬ 
piled the annexed list (p. 54), giving the number of eggs found in each nest, and, when 
possible, the names of their allied European genera, with the number of eggs laid by them. 
The entire list contains 53 species, and with the exception of two species marked with 
an asterisk, I either found the eggs or young in the nest: the two species marked, from 
frequently meeting the pair of birds with their fully fledged young, I conclude that they 
form no exception to the rule ; and, as I have already remarked, I always waited before 
taking a nest to see how many eggs the bird would lay. Neither does my experience lead 
me to believe that birds in the tropics breed more frequently than those of temperate 
climates; many nest twice a year towards the end of the wet seasons, but in this country a 
great number do this, and some more frequently : so I conclude that the abundance of 
species coupled with the scarcity of individuals of any one species, in a tropical island, is 
more the result of the low degree of fecundity of the individuals than any other cause; and 
the only reason I can assign for this fact is the high temperature and humidity of the 
climate. 
I will now make a few remarks on the nesting-habits of tropical birds. The first 
object in those latitudes seems to be to secure immunity from the attacks of monkeys, and 
perhaps to a less degree from lizards and snakes; therefore birds never build visible nests in 
the tops of the forest trees. Woodpeckers, Barbets, and many other species nest in holes 
in the tree-trunks, which are secure from the attacks of monkeys; this, perhaps, in some 
way accounts for the unusual abundance of Woodpeckers in these countries. Hornbills, as 
we know, require a large hole to nest in, so. the female is securely built in by the others 
until her single young one is able to fly. Some species build long pendent bag nests at 
the end of slender boughs which would not support the weight' of their enemies (see frontis¬ 
piece) ; others seek safety for their young by stitching their nests to the underside of 
broad leaves, as, for instance, the Araclinotherce: most Elycatchers hide their nests in the 
festoons of moss and creepers which hang from the trees; the Timeline birds generally 
make rough domed nests of bamboo-leaves near the ground amongst the collections of 
forest-drift which are found in quantities in the bamboo and palm thickets. Many species, 
however, leave the forests during their nesting-period, finding safer quarters in the thick 
jungle which springs up to the height of twenty or thirty feet in a few years on the sites of 
old paddi-clearings, these places being seldom visited by mammals ; most noticeable 
amongst these are such forest-loving species as Carpophaga badia. Two species of Doves 
(Macropygia) I found nesting amongst the dead bracken fern about the Dusun villages on 
Kina Balu; their nests were only two feet from the ground, but the colour of the birds’ 
plumage assimilates so well with the dead fern that the protection is perfect. The struggle 
