PALAWAN. 
141 
On the 10th August we again left for Taguso in the small boat in which one of the 
Kadyans (left in charge at the store) sailed over to meet us. After getting a few more 
stores from Taguso w T e camped on the shore, some five miles from that place, chiefly to be 
away from that horrible crab-eruptive store and also to avoid the pestering Sulus. One of 
the commonest birds in Palawan is the Megapode (M . cumingi). This bird inhabits 
the narrow strip of brushwood round the coast, where it makes those extraordinary large 
mounds in which its eggs are laid and hatched. In our present camp we see numbers 
of these birds, and constantly hear their peculiar cat-like “ mew.” The nest is a wonderful 
structure, and is doubtless the labour of several pairs of birds. The largest nest I have 
seen was 34 paces round and 5^ feet, high ; this heap must have contained many cartloads 
of earth, sticks, and stones, and yet the ground round about was apparently untouched. 
How such a heap is brought together is a mystery; but it is no doubt the gradual work 
of many birds during several years. The eggs are buried very deep in this mound, and 
often placed amongst the roots of a tree, on a bed of green leaves; the leaves ferment and 
hatch the egg, when the young bird quits the mound—its foster-mother—in perfect 
plumage, being much more willing to fly than the old birds. But for a fuller account of 
this extraordinary mode of nidification, I must refer the reader to my notes on this species 
in the Appendix—“ Notes on the Birds of North Borneo ” (species 286). 
In making our excursions into the forests we often had to cross shallow streams, which, 
near the coast, contained hundreds of a small prickly shell. My attention was first 
attracted by the Kadyans picking the shells off the soles of their feet after wading the 
stream. This shell is known to concliologists as Neritina diadema, and, like many other 
allied forms, has a peculiarly shaped hard operculum and frequents brackish w r ater. 
Crocodiles often swim out to sea, where they may be seen basking on the surface in 
company with numerous sharks, in the deep depressions amongst the coral-reefs. Sharks 
seem unusually plentiful around Palawan, and are occasionally caught by the Sulu 
fishermen. In the forests I had often heard a loud owl-like hoot, which the Kadyans 
declared was a devil; but one day Nyhan returned with a fine large Wood-Owl, in which 
I recognized the Kadyan’s devil. This Owl was somewhat scarce, is a new species, and 
has been named after me, Syrnium whiteheadi. 
On the shore, close to the water’s edge, are hundreds of a handsome orange-coloured 
butterfly (Applets nero) ; this species belongs to the Pierince , to the same subfamily as our 
common white butterflies. Now the peculiar part of these butterfly assemblies is that they 
are composed entirely of males, which may be seen in rows along the damp sand, sipping 
the salty moisture. The female of this bright orange male is a very differently coloured 
insect, and, comparatively speaking, very rare : there would be no difficulty in securing a 
few hundred males, but a dozen females would take some time to find, they being hidden 
about the foliage at the edge of the forest; though they differ most decidedly from the 
males, I do not think they can be said to resemble any distasteful species. Now in the 
same neighbourhood, the males often mingling together on the coast, is another species 
(Nepheronia lutescens ), the male of which is a lovely pale blue; he is not so very distantly 
related to the orange male, belonging to the same great family, the Papilionidce, subfam. 
Pierince ( 6 and ? , see page 142, figs. 5, 6). The female of the blue male is rarely seen, 
