News from New Guinea. 361 
a fantastic appearance, especially when millions of fireflies 
are seen flitting about in all directions; their lights reflected 
in clear smooth water increase the luminosity to nearly 
double. I may mention here that when at anchor at Kiwai 
Island, early in the morning and a little before sunset, thon- 
sands of the black-and-white Fruit-Pigeon (Carpophaga spi- 
lorrhoa) were seen, as at Yule Island, going from the east to 
the west to their roosting-place, and in the morning would be 
seen returning from the west to the east ; so that I consider this 
species of Pigeon to be almost as plentiful in this part of the 
world as the American Passenger Pigeon (Kctopistes migra- 
torius) is in North America.” 
“From our anchorage at Attack Island, on the 20th 
December, we saw large flocks of the Ibis strictipennis, or 
Straw-throated Ibis, flying at a great elevation in a north- 
west directiou.” 
“ My curiosity was very much excited on hearing of Mr. 
Stone’s supposed discovery of a ‘very large bird,’ and of foot- 
prints of ‘ buffaloes’ on the Baxter River, and on reading in 
‘Nature’ of the discovery of the dung of a ‘rhinoceros’ in 
New Guinea by Captain Moresby. I do not allude to the 
imaginative fauna of a Captain Lawson, because the disco- 
veries of Captain Moresby and Mr. Stone are amply sufficient 
to excite the most sanguine hopes of any naturalist. But, alas ! 
I was doomed to disappointment ; for I found the fauna of the 
Fly River very poor, considering the character of the country 
and the vegetation. I could not get a glimpse of the gigantic 
bird, with a spread of wings of 22 feet (very considerately 
reduced by Mr. Stone to 16 feet); nor was I fortunate enough 
to see the dung of Captain Moresby’s rhinoceros, nor the 
beast itself, nor even the footprints of the buffaloes. I think 
I did, however, see the bird mentioned by Mr. Stone; and IJ 
have also seen common heaps of dung so large as to make 
me wonder when I first saw them. With respect to the large 
bird, from what I have heard from more than one person who 
was up the Baxter River, I can safely reduce it to the moderate 
size-of the Red-necked Hornbill (Buceros ruficollis) ; pro- 
bably, in the excitement for novelties, two or three birds 
SER. I1I.—VOL. VI. 2B 















