him coal-black.^43 Hence the crow and the argus-pheasant are enemies to this
day.
The bird called “Barau-barau” is said to have once been a bidan (midwife)
whose employers (anak bidan) refused to pay her for her services, and kept
constantly putting her off. Her patience, however, had its limits, and one day,
after experiencing the usual evasion, she broke out into a torrent of intemperate
language, in the midst of which she was changed into a bird, whose querulous
note may be recognised as the voice of the aged woman as she cries out for the
payment of her just wages.
About the big Kingfisher (Pĕkaka) an amusing parallel to the fable of the Fox
and the Crow is related. It is said that this kingfisher once caught a fish, and flew
to a low branch just overhanging the water to devour it. The fish, seeking for a
means to save his life, decided to try the effect of a speech, and accordingly
addressed his captor in the following verses, judiciously designed to appeal at
once to her vanity and compassion:—
“O Kingfisher! Kingfisher!
What a glistening, glittering beak!
Yet while you, Big Sister, are filling your maw,
Little Brother will lose his life.”At this critical juncture the Kingfisher opens her beak to laugh, and the fish slips
back into his native element and escapes!
Fowling Ceremonies
Ideas of sympathetic magic run very strongly through all ceremonies connected
with the taking of wild birds, such for instance as jungle-fowl or pigeon.
The commonest method of snaring jungle-fowl is to take a line (called rachik),
with a great number of fine nooses attached to it, and set it so as to form a
complete circle, enclosing an open space in the forest. You must bring a decoy-