252 Mr. P. L. Sclater on Recent 
always prevented my hunters from going to the places where 
it is easy to shoot. | 
“The eggs of Ptilorhis superbus have-been found by one of 
Signor Bruijn’s hunters. The nest was in the branches of a 
tree called at Ternate ‘ Kaju Tjapilong,’ which is the Calo- 
phyllum inophyllum. At present I have not the eggs before 
me; so I will write about them more fully another time, 
when I have been able to examine the man who found them. 
“Of Paradisea rubra I have only got some young specimens 
from Waigiou, and others from Batanta, but none in perfect 
plumage. 
“The form of the trachea of Manucodia keraudreni is most 
variable ; and the number of circumvolutions seems to change 
with age, and to be a peculiarity of the male. On the labels 
-of those examined by me I have marked whether or not they 
had the trachea external. 
“The Buceros ruficollis of New Guinea has the neck of a 
much lighter colour than those from Ceram and Amboyna. 
“‘ My collection of Papuan Psittacide is very rich, and nearly 
complete. You will find three specimens of Dasyptilus pec- 
queti, two of which, females, were killed at Gunon Morait, 
near Has; the other, a male, on Mount Arfak. It lives on 
fruit, and prefers that of a species of Sterculia, as I noted at 
Gunon Morait, tearing the pericarp to get at the seeds. It 
often goes in pairs, but sometimes in parties of three or four. 
When alone it makes a loud and very harsh cry, which can 
be heard at a great distance. Its tongue is not papillose or 
brush-like, but callous. It is often kept in confinement, but 
does not live long. It is very voracious, and may be fed on 
bananas. Sometimes it descends to the plains, but generally 
prefers the mountains from 2000 to 3000 feet. It has sucha 
tough skin that an ordinary charge of shot has little effect on 
it, and it is usually only brought down by a blow on the head 
or a broken wing. Most of the living birds, as well .as the 
skins prepared by natives, are got by the Ternate merchants 
at Salwatti; but all come from Has, and I do not yet know 
whether the bird inhabits Salwatti. I was able to get speci- 
mens of several kinds of Nasiterna. I shot some myself; 





