collected or observed in the New Hebrides. 277 
helices^ and little hard seeds that form its food. The natives 
among the New-Hebrides group tell me that in their islands 
the Malou deposits its eggs in a hole scratched under a 
rotten fallen log in the forest^ and then covers them up with 
leaves. This account was confirmed by an intelligent mis¬ 
sionary on the island of Sandwich, or Vate. In the Solo¬ 
mon Islands, however, I am assured by all the natives I have 
asked, white traders, and officers of H.M. ships, that the 
birds lay in the sand just above high-water mark. I hope to 
get to those islands myself next year. While staying on Vate 
I ofiered a large reward in beads, tobacco, and tomahawks to 
any native who would conduct me to a nest, so that I could 
get the eggs out with my own hands. Just two days after I 
left iu the ^ Dayspring ^ for the other islands, a man brought 
three eggs, fresh laid. He was told to come back again as 
soon as the vessel returned; but he did not, and I never saw 
a: nest. The natives use the leg-bones of this bird for pipe- 
stems. I travelled to a place on the eastern side of Vate, 
where I was told there were still a few remaining. My host, 
who was just getting over a severe attack of fever and ague, 
could only take me to the edge of a ravine, and give me di¬ 
rections. I stole along carefully, just stepping from one rock 
to another, and every few yards stopping behind a tree to 
listen and reconnoitre. I must have walked a mile and a half 
up that gully, and could not have gone more circumspectly 
if I had been looking for gold. Twice, I was certain, I heard 
scratching among the dead leaves, but could see no birds. 
I could have had several shots at fowls run wild, but I was 
after nobler game. At length, as the bats were already flit¬ 
ting round my head, I thought it time to retrace my footsteps. 
I had not gone far when, with a hoarse croak, a dark object 
bounded over the bottom of the watercourse I was walking 
in. In the gathering darkness I could only see a black mass, 
like a stone, among the saplings. However, as I knew I could 
not get any nearer, I tried the choke-bore at it. The smoke 
hung round so that I could see nothing, and I heard no flut¬ 
tering among the leaves; but when I went up to the place 
there lay my first Malou,shot through the head and heart. 
