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 Bouru. 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, i l l
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 hut 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
[ b o a r d 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
Ihad 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, Tanysip-
tera acis and Ceyx Cajeli; a beautiful sunbird, Nectarinea
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.