Notes in the New Hebrides. 
609 
Mallicollo, where 1 landed with some of the other officers to 
shoot ducks in a shallow lagoon. We got a few Anas super - 
ciliosa and one Porphyria smaragdinus, a handsome Gallinule. 
Mr. F. Paton, a son of the veteran missionary, heads the 
mission, and gave me much assistance and information about 
the natives, who are very wild and treacherous. Among 
other unpleasant customs, including cannibalism, they 
have one of burying alive their very old and very sick 
relatives. Several smiling murderers were pointed out 
to me, who would have made as good bird-guides as any 
others. 
On the 26tb of May I was at Eromanga engaged in sur¬ 
veying Polenia Bay. Globicera farquhari is very common 
here, and we shot a number of this fine Pigeon, and I pro¬ 
cured a single specimen of Petrceca similis , shot by a native 
boy with a blunt-headed arrow ; later on I obtained two 
specimens of the nearly allied P. ambrymensis , but both 
species are bush-skulkers and not easy to shoot. 
The 17th of June found me on the south coast of Espiritu 
Santo, at the entrance of the Sarrakate river, up which I 
made an expedition. The scenery was lovely as we pulled 
up between the steep and densely wooded banks, the tops of 
the giant trees being completely laced over with a thick 
covering of convolvulus, which prevented the rays of even the 
tropical sun at high noon from reaching the ground. Great 
bushes of scarlet hibiscus made splashes of colour against 
the dark green, but birds were few ; an occasional Pigeon 
crossed high overhead, and Hirundo tahitica was hawking 
over the surface of the water, while now and again we dis¬ 
turbed a Bittern from the mangroves. Three miles brought 
us to plantations, where bird-life was more plentiful, and I 
obtained specimens of Aplonis rufipenais, another kind of 
Zosterops [Z. griseonota), Collocalia fuciphaga , and Halcyon 
julice (specimens of this Kingfisher I found differed a good 
deal in the neck-markings). In some parts of Espiritu Santo 
I found Lalage flavotincta fairly common; it is a handsome 
little bird, with a breast of most delicate yellow. 
Early in July we were back at Efate, and an expedition to 
a neighbouring plantation produced for me four specimens 
