carpeted at this season with dead leaves. They were so shy that it was very
difficult to get a shot at them, and it was only after a good deal of practice that I
discovered how to do it. The habit of these birds is to hop about on the ground,
picking up insects, and on the least alarm to run into the densest thicket or take a
flight close to the ground. At intervals they utter a peculiar cry of two notes
which when once heard is easily recognised, and they can also be heard hopping
along among the dry leaves.
My practice was, therefore, to walk cautiously along the narrow pathways
with which the country abounded, and on detecting any sign of a Pitta's vicinity
to stand motionless and give a gentle whistle occasionally, imitating the notes as
near as possible. After half an hour's waiting I was often rewarded by seeing the
pretty bird hopping along in the thicket. Then I would perhaps lose sight of it
again, until having my gun raised and ready for a shot, a second glimpse would
enable me to secure my prize, and admire its soft puffy plumage and lovely
colours. The upper part is rich soft green, the head jet black with a stripe of blue
and brown over each eye; at the base of the tail and on the shoulders are bands of
bright silvery blue; the under side is delicate buff with a stripe of rich crimson,
bordered with black on the belly. Beautiful grass-green doves, little crimson and
black flower-peckers, large black cuckoos, metallic king-crows, golden orioles,
and the fine jungle-cocks—the origin of all our domestic breeds of poultry—
were among the birds that chiefly attracted my attention during our stay at
Labuan Tring.
The most characteristic feature of the jungle was its thorniness. The shrubs
were thorny; the creepers were thorny; the bamboos even were thorny.
Everything grew zigzag and jagged, and in an inextricable tangle, so that to get
through the bush with gun or net or even spectacles, was generally not to be
done, and insect-catching in such localities was out of the question. It was in
such places that the Pittas often lurked, and when shot it became a matter of
some difficulty to secure the bird, and seldom without a heavy payment of pricks
and scratches and torn clothes could the prize be won. The dry volcanic soil and
arid climate seem favourable to the production of such stunted and thorny
vegetation, for the natives assured me that this was nothing to the thorns and
prickles of Sumbawa whose surface still bears the covering of volcanic ashes
thrown out forty years ago by the terrible eruption of Tomboro.
Among the shrubs and trees that are not prickly the Apocynaceae were most
abundant, their bilobed fruits of varied form and colour and often of most
tempting appearance, hanging everywhere by the waysides as if to invite to
destruction the weary traveller who may be unaware of their poisonous