I Also Obtained Here A Specimen Of The Rare
Green Jungle-Fowl (Gallus Furcatus), Whose Back And Neck Are
Beautifully Scaled With Bronzy Feathers, And Whose Smooth-Edged
Oval Comb Is Of A Violet Purple Colour, Changing To Green At The
Base.
It is also remarkable in possessing a single large wattle
beneath its throat, brightly coloured in three patches of red,
yellow, and blue.
The common jungle-cock (Gallus bankiva) was
also obtained here. It is almost exactly like a common game-cock,
but the voice is different, being much shorter and more abrupt;
hence its native name is Bekeko. Six different kinds of
woodpeckers and four kingfishers were found here, the fine
hornbill, Buceros lunatus, more than four feet long, and the
pretty little lorikeet, Loriculus pusillus, scarcely more than as
many inches.
One morning, as I was preparing and arranging specimens, I was
told there was to be a trial; and presently four or five men came
in and squatted down on a mat under the audience-shed in the
court. The chief then came in with his clerk, and sat down
opposite them. Each spoke in turn, telling his own tale, and then
I found that those who first entered were the prisoner, accuser,
policemen, and witness, and that the prisoner was indicated
solely by having a loose piece of cord twilled around his wrists,
but not tied. It was a case of robbery, and after the evidence
was given, and a few questions had been asked by the chief, the
accused said a few words, and then sentence was pronounced, which
was a fine.
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