PALAWAN. 
145 
amongst which it climbs. On several occasions I noticed that on my approach this 
peculiar insect would lower its head and thrust forward its legs and antennae in a straight 
line, thus making its appearance more stick-like. Many species have their antennae much 
longer than that figured (fig. 9), and some insects grow to a length of fourteen inches. 
The small spider which spins its web in imitation of a bird’s excreta, upon which it 
rests, and even by its presence perfecting this resemblance, is able by this clever device to 
secure its insect-prey, and is another example of what is termed mimicry. That the spider 
purposely imitates a bird’s excreta one does not for a moment suppose, but rather that 
certain species of spiders spin their webs in this wonderful manner because it is beneficial to 
their existence, and the more perfect the resemblance of this trap, the greater the food- 
supply and protection afforded to the spider itself; therefore past generations of spiders 
have gone on perfecting this peculiar web until it is now presented to us a perfect imitation 
of a bird’s excreta. For this most interesting discovery we are indebted to Mr. H. O. 
Forbes (‘A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago,’ pp. 63-65). The leaf 
drawn by me (fig. 8 on plate facing page 50) I found on Kina Balu (above 8000 feet); the 
spider was very small and black, and different to that described by Mr. Forbes. 
Doubtless the same instinct which causes a gaudy powerful winged insect to take flight 
on the approach of an enemy causes another which resembles its surroundings to remain 
motionless—the instinct being in each case self-preservation. That these remarkable 
imitations are certain to improve and increase has been shown by Mr. Darwin in his great 
work ‘ The Origin of Species.’ 
One of the most interesting birds in Palawan is a large glossy blue-black Cuckoo, Endy- 
namis mindanensis —speaking of the male bird only, as the female is ochreous brown, 
beautifully barred with dark glossy green. When we first arrived in this island these 
cuckoos were very noisy, especially just before sunset, when the males would leave the 
forest and perch on the low trees in the vicinity, where they would utter their loud call— 
“ Phow ”—many times in succession. When shooting in the forests, the report of a gun 
or any sudden noise, such as the falling of a dead branch, also caused these birds to utter 
the same cry. 
In August most of these cuckoos had left the island, probably migrating elsewhere. 
In that month I shot a young male which was being fostered by a Yellow-wattled Mynah 
(Eulabes palaicanensis). The plumage of this young bird was similar to the adult male 
cuckoo, only less glossed with blue. 
A few days later we obtained three more young Phows—“ Phow ” being this cuckoo’s 
Sulu name—all of them black like the adult male, and, at first sight, all young males; but 
an anatomical examination revealed the remarkable fact that two of these birds were young 
females. On closer comparison the two females showed slight plumage differences from 
the two males, in being of a greenish brown instead of bluish black, in having the entire 
underside of the wing mottled and barred with brown, and on one specimen there were 
several ochreous feathers on the back. Here was a puzzle which required some explanation ; 
for it is a known fact that when the plumage of the sexes differs, the young either resemble 
the female, or the different sexes follow the plumage of the adult sexes or have a plumage 
peculiar to immaturity. 
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