Another Beautiful Bird Of The Parrot Tribe Was The
Geoffroyus Cyanicollis, A Green Parrot With A Red Bill And Head,
Which Colour Shaded On The Crown Into Azure Blue, And Thence Into
Verditer Blue And The Green Of The Back.
Two large and handsome
fruit pigeons, with metallic green, ashy, and rufous plumage,
were not uncommon; and I was
Rewarded by finding a splendid deep
blue roller (Eurystomus azureus); a lovely golden-capped sunbird
(Nectarinea auriceps), and a fine racquet-tailed kingfisher
(Tanysiptera isis), all of which were entirely new to
ornithologists. Of insects I obtained a considerable number of
interesting beetles, including many fine longicorns, among which
was the largest and handsomest species of the genus Glenea yet
discovered. Among butterflies the beautiful little Danis sebae
was abundant, making the forests gay with its delicate wings of
white and the richest metallic blue; while showy Papilios, and
pretty Pieridae, and dark, rich Euphaeas, many of them new,
furnished a constant source of interest and pleasing occupation.
The island of Batchian possesses no really indigenous
inhabitants, the interior being altogether uninhabited; and there
are only a few small villages on various parts of the coast; yet
I found here four distinct races, which would wofully mislead an
ethnological traveller unable to obtain information as to their
origin, first there are the Batchian Malays, probably the
earliest colonists, differing very little from those of Ternate.
Their language, however, seems to have more of the Papuan
element, with a mixture of pure Malay, showing that the
settlement is one of stragglers of various races, although now
sufficiently homogeneous.
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