is almost confined to the Philippine Islands, and is
quite \mknown in Borneo, Java, or Malacca. The road
was shady and apparently much trodden by horses and
cattle, and I quickly obtained some butterflies I had not
before met with. Soon a couple of reports were heard, and
coming up to my boys I found they had shot two specimens
of one of the finest of known cuckoos, Phcenicophaus
callirhynchus. This bird derives its name from its large
bill being coloured of a brilliant yellow, red, and black,
in about equal proportions. The tail is exceedingly long,
and of a fine metallic purple, while the plumage of the
body is light coffee brown. It is one of the characteristic
birds of the island of Celebes, to which it is confined.
After sauntering along for a couple of hours we reached
a small river, so deep that horses could only cross it by
swimming, so we had to turn back; but as we were getting
hungry, and the water of the almost stagnant river was
too muddy to drink, we went towards a house a few
hundred yards off. In the plantation we saw a small
raised hut, which we thought would do well for us to
breakfast in, so I entered, and found inside a young woman
with an infant. She handed me a jug of water, but looked
very much frightened. However, I sat down on the doorstep,
and asked for the provisions. In handing them up,
Baderoon saw the infant, and started back as if he had
seen a serpent. It then immediately struck me that this
was a hut in which, as among the Dyaks of Borneo and
many other savage tribes, the women are secluded for some
time after the birth of their child, and that we did very
wrong to enter i t ; so we walked off and asked permission
to eat our breakfast in the family mansion close at hand,
which was of course granted. While I ate, three men,
two women, and four children watched every motion, and
never took eyes off me till I had finished.
On our way back in the heat of the day I had the good
fortune to capture three specimens of a fine Ornithoptera,
the largest, the most perfect, and the most beautiful of
butterflies. I trembled with excitement as I took the first
out of my net and found it to be in perfect condition. The
ground colour of this superb, insect was a rich shining
bronzy black, the lower wings delicately grained with
white, and bordered by a row of large spots of the most
brilliant satiny yellow. The body was marked with shaded
spots of white, yellow, and fiery orange, while the head and
thorax were intense black. On the under-side the lower
wings were satiny white, with the marginal spots half black
and half yellow. I gazed upon my prize with extreme
interest, as I at first thought it was quite a new species.
It proved however to be a variety of Ornithoptera remus,
one of the rarest and most remarkable species of this
highly- esteemed group. I also obtained several other new
and pretty butterflies. When we arrived at our lodging