They
Explained That They Shoot The Birds With A Bow And Arrow, The
Arrow Having A Conical Wooden Cap Fitted To The End As Large As A
Teacup, So As To Kill The Bird By The Violence Of The Blow
Without Making Any Wound Or Shedding Any Blood.
The trees
frequented by the birds are very lofty; it is therefore necessary
to erect a small leafy covering
Or hut among the branches, to
which the hunter mounts before daylight in the morning and
remains the whole day, and whenever a bird alights they are
almost sure of securing it. (See Frontispiece.) They returned to
their homes the same evening, and I never saw anything more of
them, owing, as I afterwards found, to its being too early to
obtain birds in good plumage.
The first two or three days of our stay here were very wet, and I
obtained but few insects or birds, but at length, when I was
beginning to despair, my boy Baderoon returned one day with a
specimen which repaid me for months of delay and expectation. It
was a small bird a little less than a thrush. The greater part of
its plumage was of an intense cinnabar red, with a gloss as of
spun glass. On the head the feathers became short and velvety,
and shaded into rich orange. Beneath, from the breast downwards,
was pure white, with the softness and gloss of silk, and across
the breast a band of deep metallic green separated this colour
from the red of the throat.
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