I Was Confirmed In This View By Finding That The
Languages Of Bouru Possessed Distinct Resemblances To That Of
Sula, As Well As To Those Of Ceram.
Soon after we had arrived at Waypoti, Ali had seen a beautiful
little bird of the genus Pitta, which I was very anxious to
obtain, as in almost every island the species are different, and
none were yet known from Bourn.
He and my other hunter continued
to see it two or three times a week, and to hear its peculiar
note much oftener, but could never get a specimen, owing to its
always frequenting the most dense thorny thickets, where only
hasty glimpses of it could be obtained, and at so short a
distance that it would be difficult to avoid blowing the bird to
pieces. Ali was very much annoyed that he could not get a
specimen of this bird, in going after which he had already
severely, wounded his feet with thorns; and when we had only two
days more to stay, he went of his own accord one evening to sleep
at a little but in the forest some miles off, in order to have a
last try for it at daybreak, when many birds come out to feed,
and are very intent on their morning meal. The next evening he
brought me home two specimens, one with the head blown completely
off, and otherwise too much injured to preserve, the other in
very good order, and which I at once saw to be a new species,
very like the Pitta celebensis, but ornamented with a square
patch of bright red on the nape of the neck.
The next day after securing this prize we returned to Cajeli, and
packing up my collections left Bouru by the steamer. During our
two days' stay at Ternate, I took on board what baggage I had
left there, and bade adieu to all my friends. We then crossed
over to Menado, on our way to Macassar and Java, and I finally
quitted the Moluccas, among whose luxuriant and beautiful islands
I had wandered for more than three years.
My collections in Bouru, though not extensive, were of
considerable interest; for out of sixty-six species of birds
which I collected there, no less than seventeen were new, or had
not been previously found in any island of the Moluccas. Among
these were two kingfishers, Tanysiptera acis and Ceyx Cajeli; a
beautiful sunbird, Nectarines proserpina; a handsome little black
and white flycatcher, Monarcha loricata, whose swelling throat
was beautifully scaled with metallic blue; and several of less
interest. I also obtained a skull of the babirusa, one specimen
of which was killed by native hunters during my residence at
Cajeli.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MOLUCCAS.
THE Moluccas consist of three large islands, Gilolo, Ceram, and
Bouru, the two former being each about two hundred miles long;
and a great number of smaller isles and islets, the most
important of which are Batchian, Morty, Obi, Ke, Timor-Laut, and
Amboyna; and among the smaller ones, Ternate, Tidore, Kaiķa, and
Banda.
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