The Very First Time I Fired My Gun I Brought Down One Of The Most
Curious And Beautiful Of The
Malacca birds, the blue-billed gaper
(Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus), called by the Malays the
"Rainbird." It is about the size of
A starling, black and rich
claret colour with white shoulder stripes, and a very large and
broad bill of the most pure cobalt blue above and orange below,
while the iris is emerald green. As the skins dry the bill turns
dull black, but even then the bird is handsome. When fresh
killed, the contrast of the vivid blue with the rich colours of
the plumage is remarkably striking and beautiful. The lovely
Eastern trogons, with their rich-brown backs, beautifully
pencilled wings, and crimson breasts, were also soon obtained, as
well as the large green barbets (Megalaema versicolor) - fruit-
eating birds, something like small toucans, with a short,
straight bristly bill, and whose head and neck are variegated
with patches of the most vivid blue and crimson. A day or two
after, my hunter brought me a specimen of the green gaper
(Calyptomena viridis), which is like a small cock-of-the-rock,
but entirely of the most vivid green, delicately marked on the
wings with black bars. Handsome woodpeckers and gay kingfishers,
green and brown cuckoos with velvety red faces and green beaks,
red-breasted doves and metallic honeysuckers, were brought in day
after day, and kept me in a continual state of pleasurable
excitement. After a fortnight one of my servants was seized with
fever, and on returning to Malacca, the same disease, attacked
the other as well as myself. By a liberal use of quinine, I soon
recovered, and obtaining other men, went to stay at the
Government bungalow of Ayer-panas, accompanied by a young
gentleman, a native of the place, who had a taste for natural
history.
At Ayer-panas we had a comfortable house to stay in, and plenty
of room to dry and preserve our specimens; but, owing to there
being no industrious Chinese to cut down timber, insects were
comparatively scarce, with the exception of butterflies, of which
I formed a very fine collection. The manner in which I obtained
one fine insect was curious, and indicates bow fragmentary and
imperfect a traveller's collection must necessarily be. I was one
afternoon walking along a favourite road through the forest, with
my gun, when I saw a butterfly on the ground. It was large,
handsome, and quite new to me, and I got close to it before it
flew away. I then observed that it had been settling on the dung
of some carnivorous animal. Thinking it might return to the same
spot, I next day after breakfast took my net, and as I approached
the place was delighted to see the same butterfly sitting on the
same piece of dung, and succeeded in capturing it. It was an
entirely new species of great beauty, and has been named by Mr.
Hewitson - Nymphalis calydona.
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