Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ejecting an intruder
I did not get a great many birds here. The most remarkable were the fine crimson lory,
Eos rubra—a brush-tongued parroquet of a vivid crimson colour, which was very abundant.
Large flocks of them came about the plantation, and formed a magnificent object when they
settled down upon some flowering tree, on the nectar of which lories feed. I also obtained
one or two specimens of the fine racquet-tailed kingfisher of Amboyna, Tanysiptera nais,
one of the most singular and beautiful of that beautiful family. These birds differ from all
other kingfishers (which have usually short tails) by having the two middle tail-feathers im-
mensely lengthened and very narrowly webbed, but terminated by a spoon shaped enlarge-
ment, as in the motmots and some of the humming-birds. They belong to that division of the
family termed king-hunters, living chiefly on insects and small land-molluscs, which they
dart down upon and pick up from the ground, just as a kingfisher picks a fish out of the wa-
ter. They are confined to a very limited area, comprising the Moluccas, New Guinea, and
Northern Australia. About ten species of these birds are now known, all much resembling
each other, but yet sufficiently distinguishable in every locality. The Amboynese species, of
which a very accurate representation is here given, is one of the largest and handsomest. It is
