The Malay Archipelago Volume 1

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Arrived at our destination, we built a but and prepared for a stay
of some days--I to shoot and skin "Maleos", and Mr. Goldmann and
the Major to hunt wild pigs, Babirusa, and Sapi-utan. The place is
situated in the large bay between the islands of Limbe and Banca,
and consists of steep beach more than a mile in length, of deep
loose and coarse black volcanic sand (or rather gravel), very
fatiguing to walk over. It is bounded at each extremity by a
small river with hilly ground beyond, while the forest behind
the beach itself is tolerably level and its growth stunted. We
probably have here an ancient lava stream from the Klabat
volcano, which has flowed down a valley into the sea, and the
decomposition of which has formed the loose black sand. In
confirmation of this view, it may be mentioned that the beaches
beyond the small rivers in both directions are of white sand.

It is in this loose, hot, black sand that those singular birds,
the "Maleos" deposit their eggs. In the months of August and
September, when there is little or no rain, they come down in
pairs from the interior to this or to one or two other favourite
spots, and scratch holes three or four feet deep, just above
high-water mark, where the female deposits a single large egg,
which she covers over with about a foot of sand--and then returns
to the forest. At the end of ten or twelve days she comes again
to the same spot to lay another egg, and each female bird is
supposed to lay six or eight eggs during the season. The male
assists the female in making the hole, coming down and returning
with her. The appearance of the bird when walking on the beach is
very handsome. The glossy black and rosy white of the plumage,
the helmeted head and elevated tail, like that of the common
fowl, give a striking character, which their stately and somewhat
sedate walk renders still more remarkable. There is hardly any
difference between the sexes, except that the casque or bonnet at
the back of the head and the tubercles at the nostrils are a
little larger, and the beautiful rosy salmon colour a little
deeper in the male bird; but the difference is so slight that it
is not always possible to tell a male from a female without
dissection. They run quickly, but when shot at or suddenly
disturbed, take wing with a heavy noisy flight to some neighbouring
tree, where they settle on a low branch; and, they probably roost
at night in a similar situation. Many birds lay in the same hole,
for a dozen eggs are often found together; and these are so large
that it is not possible for the body of the bird to contain more
than one fully-developed egg at the same time. In all the female
birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides the one large one
exceeded the size of peas, and there were only eight or nine of
these, which is probably the extreme number a bird can lay in one
season.

Every year the natives come for fifty miles round to obtain these
eggs, which are esteemed as a great delicacy, and when quite fresh,
are indeed delicious. They are richer than hens' eggs and of a
finer favour, and each one completely fills an ordinary teacup,
and forms with bread or rice a very good meal. The colour of the
shell is a pale brick red, or very rarely pure white. They are
elongate and very slightly smaller at one end, from four to four
and a half inches long by two and a quarter or two and a half
wide.

After the eggs are deposited in the sand, they are no further
cared for by the mother. The young birds, upon breaking the shell,
work their way up through the sand and run off at once to the
forest; and I was assured by Mr. Duivenboden of Ternate, that
they can fly the very day they are hatched. He had taken some
eggs on board his schooner which hatched during the night, and in
the morning the little birds flew readily across the cabin.
Considering the great distances the birds come to deposit the
eggs in a proper situation (often ten or fifteen miles) it seems
extraordinary that they should take no further care of them. It
is, however, quite certain that they neither do nor can watch
them. The eggs being deposited by a number of hens in succession
in the same hole, would render it impossible for each to
distinguish its own; and the food necessary for such large birds
(consisting entirely of fallen fruits) can only be obtained by
roaming over an extensive district, so that if the numbers of
birds which come down to this single beach in the breeding
season, amounting to many hundreds, were obliged to remain in the
vicinity, many would perish of hunger.

In the structure of the feet of this bird, we may detect a cause
for its departing from the habits of its nearest allies, the
Megapodii and Talegalli, which heap up earth, leaves, stones, and
sticks into a huge mound, in which they bury their eggs. The feet
of the Maleo are not nearly so large or strong in proportion as
in these birds, while its claws are short and straight instead of
being long and much curved. The toes are, however, strongly
webbed at the base, forming a broad powerful foot, which, with
the rather long leg, is well adapted to scratch away the loose
sand (which flies up in a perfect shower when the birds are at
work), but which could not without much labour accumulate the
heaps of miscellaneous rubbish, which the large grasping feet of
the Megapodius bring together with ease.

We may also, I think, see in the peculiar organization of the
entire family of the Megapodidae or Brush Turkeys, a reason why
they depart so widely from the usual habits of the Class of
birds. Each egg being so large as entirely to fill up the
abdominal cavity and with difficulty pass the walls of the
pelvis, a considerable interval is required before the successive
eggs can be matured (the natives say about thirteen days). Each
bird lays six or eight eggs or even more each season, so that
between the first and last there may be an interval of two or
three months. Now, if these eggs were hatched in the ordinary
way, either the parents must keep sitting continually for this
long period, or if they only began to sit after the last egg
was deposited, the first would be exposed to injury by the
climate, or to destruction by the large lizards, snakes, or other
animals which abound in the district; because such large birds
must roam about a good deal in search of food. Here then we seem
to have a case in which the habits of a bird may be directly
traced to its exceptional organization; for it will hardly be
maintained that this abnormal structure and peculiar food were
given to the Megapodidae in order that they might not exhibit
that parental affection, or possess those domestic instincts so
general in the Class of birds, and which so much excite our admiration.

It has generally been the custom of writers on Natural History
to take the habits and instincts of animals as fixed points, and
to consider their structure and organization, as specially adapted,
to be in accordance with these. This assumption is however an
arbitrary one, and has the bad effect of stifling inquiry into
the nature and causes of "instincts and habits," treating them as
directly due to a "first cause," and therefore, incomprehensible
to us. I believe that a careful consideration of the structure of
a species, and of the peculiar physical and organic conditions by
which it is surrounded, or has been surrounded in past ages, will
often, as in this case, throw much light on the origin of its
habits and instincts. These again, combined with changes in
external conditions, react upon structure, and by means of
"variation" and "natural selection", both are kept in harmony.

My friends remained three days, and got plenty of wild pigs and
two Anoas, but the latter were much injured by the dogs, and I
could only preserve the heads. A grand hunt which we attempted on
the third day failed, owing to bad management in driving in the
game, and we waited for five hours perched on platforms in trees
without getting a shot, although we had been assured that pigs,
Babirusas, and Anóas would rush past us in dozens. I myself, with
two men, stayed three days longer to get more specimens of the
Maleos, and succeeded in preserving twenty-six very fine ones--
the flesh and eggs of which supplied us with abundance of good
food.

The Major sent a boat, as he had promised, to take home my
baggage, while I walked through the forest with my two boys and a
guide, about fourteen miles. For the first half of the distance
there was no path, and we had often to cut our way through
tangled rattans or thickets of bamboo. In some of our turnings to
find the most practicable route, I expressed my fear that we were
losing our way, as the sun being vertical, I could see no possible
clue to the right direction. My conductors, however, laughed at
the idea, which they seemed to consider quite ludicrous; and sure
enough, about half way, we suddenly encountered a little hut
where people from Licoupang came to hunt and smoke wild pigs. My
guide told me he had never before traversed the forest between
these two points; and this is what is considered by some
travellers as one of the savage "instincts," whereas it is merely
the result of wide general knowledge. The man knew the topography
of the whole district; the slope of the land, the direction of
the streams, the belts of bamboo or rattan, and many other
indications of locality and direction; and he was thus enabled to
hit straight upon the hut, in the vicinity of which he had often
hunted. In a forest of which he knew nothing, he would be quite
as much at a loss as a European. Thus it is, I am convinced, with
all the wonderful accounts of Indians finding their way through
trackless forests to definite points; they may never have passed
straight between the two particular points before, but they are
well acquainted with the vicinity of both, and have such a
general knowledge of the whole country, its water system, its
soil and its vegetation, that as they approach the point they are
to reach, many easily-recognised indications enable them to hit
upon it with certainty.

The chief feature of this forest was the abundance of rattan
palms hanging from the trees, and turning and twisting about on
the ground, often in inextricable confusion. One wonders at first
how they can get into such queer shapes; but it is evidently
caused by the decay and fall of the trees up which they have
first climbed, after which they grow along the ground until they
meet with another trunk up which to ascend. A tangled mass of
twisted living rattan, is therefore, a sign that at some former
period a large tree has fallen there, though there may be not the
slightest vestige of it left. The rattan seems to have unlimited
powers of growth, and a single plant may moult up several trees
in succession, and thus reach the enormous length they are said
sometimes to attain. They much improve the appearance of a forest
as seen from the coast; for they vary the otherwise monotonous
tree-tops with feathery crowns of leaves rising clear above them,
and each terminated by an erect leafy spike like a lightning-
conductor.

The other most interesting object in the forest was a beautiful
palm, whose perfectly smooth and cylindrical stem rises erect to
more than a hundred feet high, with a thickness of only eight or
ten inches; while the fan-shaped leaves which compose its crown,
are almost complete circles of six or eight feet diameter, borne
aloft on long and slender petioles, and beautifully toothed round
the edge by the extremities of the leaflets, which are separated
only for a few inches from the circumference. It is probably the
Livistona rotundifolia of botanists, and is the most complete and
beautiful fan-leaf I have ever seen, serving admirably for folding
into water-buckets and impromptu baskets, as well as for thatching
and other purposes.

A few days afterwards I returned to Menado on horse-back, sending
my baggage around by sea; and had just time to pack up all my
collections to go by the next mail steamer to Amboyna. I will now
devote a few pages to an account of the chief peculiarities of
the Zoology of Celebes, and its relation to that of the
surrounding countries.

CHAPTER XVIII.

NATURAL HISTORY OF CELEBES.

THE position of Celebes is the most central in the Archipelago.
Immediately to the north are the Philippine islands; on the west
is Borneo; on the east are the Molucca islands; and on the south
is the Timor group--and it is on all sides so connected with
these islands by its own satellites, by small islets, and by
coral reefs, that neither by inspection on the map nor by actual
observation around its coast, is it possible to determine
accurately which should be grouped with it, and which with the
surrounding districts. Such being the case, we should naturally
expect to find that the productions of this central island in
some degree represented the richness and variety of the whole
Archipelago, while we should not expect much individuality in a
country, so situated, that it would seem as if it were pre-
eminently fitted to receive stragglers and immigrants from all
around.

As so often happens in nature, however, the fact turns out to be
just the reverse of what we should have expected; and an
examination of its animal productions shows Celebes to be at
once the poorest in the number of its species, and the most
isolated in the character of its productions, of all the great
islands in the Archipelago. With its attendant islets it spreads
over an extent of sea hardly inferior in length and breadth to
that occupied by Borneo, while its actual land area is nearly
double that of Java; yet its Mammalia and terrestrial birds
number scarcely more than half the species found in the last-
named island. Its position is such that it could receive
immigrants from every side more readily than Java, yet in
proportion to the species which inhabit it, far fewer seem derived
from other islands, while far more are altogether peculiar to it;
and a considerable number of its animal forms are so remarkable,
as to find no close allies in any other part of the world. I now
propose to examine the best known groups of Celebesian animals in
some detail, to study their relations to those of other islands,
and to call attention to the many points of interest which they
suggest.

We know far more of the birds of Celebes than we do of any other
group of animals. No less than 191 species have been discovered,
and though no doubt, many more wading and swimming birds have to
be added; yet the list of land birds, 144 in number, and which
for our present purpose are much the most important, must be very
nearly complete. I myself assiduously collected birds in Celebes
for nearly ten months, and my assistant, Mr. Allen, spent two
months in the Sula islands. The Dutch naturalist Forsten spent
two years in Northern Celebes (twenty years before my visit), and
collections of birds had also been sent to Holland from Macassar.
The French ship of discovery, L'Astrolabe, also touched at Menado
and procured collections. Since my return home, the Dutch
naturalists Rosenberg and Bernstein have made extensive
collections both in North Celebes and in the Sula islands; yet
all their researches combined have only added eight species of
land birds to those forming part of my own collection--a fact
which renders it almost certain that there are very few more to
discover.

Besides Salayer and Boutong on the south, with Peling and Bungay
on the east, the three islands of the Sula (or Zula) Archipelago
also belong zoologically to Celebes, although their position is
such that it would seem more natural to group them with the
Moluccas. About 48 land birds are now known from the Sula group,
and if we reject from these, five species which have a wide range
over the Archipelago, the remainder are much more characteristic
of Celebes than of the Moluccas. Thirty-one species are identical
with those of the former island, and four are representatives of
Celebes forms, while only eleven are Moluccan species, and two
more representatives.

But although the Sula islands belong to Celebes, they are so
close to Bouru and the southern islands of the Gilolo group, that
several purely Moluccan forms have migrated there, which are
quite unknown to the island of Celebes itself; the whole thirteen
Moluccan species being in this category, thus adding to the
productions of Celebes a foreign element which does not really
belong to it. In studying the peculiarities of the Celebesian
fauna, it will therefore be well to consider only the productions
of the main island.

The number of land birds in the island of Celebes is 128, and
from these we may, as before, strike out a small number of
species which roam over the whole Archipelago (often from India
to the Pacific), and which therefore only serve to disguise the
peculiarities of individual islands. These are 20 in number, and
leave 108 species which we may consider as more especially
characteristic of the island. On accurately comparing these with
the birds of all the surrounding countries, we find that only
nine extend into the islands westward, and nineteen into the
islands eastward, while no less than 80 are entirely confined to
the Celebesian fauna--a degree of individuality which,
considering the situation of the island, is hardly to be equalled
in any other part of the world. If we still more closely examine
these 80 species, we shall be struck by the many peculiarities of
structure they present, and by the curious affinities with
distant parts of the world which many of them seem to indicate.
These points are of so much interest and importance that it will
be necessary to pass in review all those species which are
peculiar to the island, and to call attention to whatever is most
worthy of remark.

Six species of the Hawk tribe are peculiar to Celebes; three of
these are very distinct from allied birds which range over all
India to Java and Borneo, and which thus seem to be suddenly
changed on entering Celebes. Another (Accipiter trinotatus) is a
beautiful hawk, with elegant rows of large round white spots on
the tail, rendering it very conspicuous and quite different from
any other known bird of the family. Three owls are also peculiar;
and one, a barn owl (Strix rosenbergii), is very much larger and
stronger than its ally Strix javanica, which ranges from India
through all the islands as far as Lombock.

Of the ten Parrots found in Celebes, eight are peculiar. Among
them are two species of the singular raquet-tailed parrots
forming the genus Prioniturus, and which are characterised by
possessing two long spoon-shaped feathers in the tail. Two allied
species are found in the adjacent island of Mindanao, one of the
Philippines, and this form of tail is found in no other parrots
in the whole world. A small species of Lorikeet (Trichoglossus
flavoviridis) seems to have its nearest ally in Australia.

The three Woodpeckers which inhabit the island are all peculiar,
and are allied to species found in Java and Borneo, although very
different from them all.

Among the three peculiar Cuckoos, two are very remarkable.
Phoenicophaus callirhynchus is the largest and handsomest species
of its genus, and is distinguished by the three colours of its
beak, bright yellow, red, and black. Eudynamis melanorynchus
differs from all its allies in having a jet-black bill, whereas
the other species of the genus always have it green, yellow, or
reddish.

The Celebes Roller (Coracias temmincki) is an interesting example
of one species of a genus being cut off from the rest. There are
species of Coracias in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but none in the
Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, or Borneo. The present species
seems therefore quite out of place; and what is still more
curious is the fact that it is not at all like any of the
Asiatic species, but seems more to resemble those of Africa.

In the next family, the Bee-eaters, is another equally isolated
bird, Meropogon forsteni, which combines the characters of
African and Indian Bee-eaters, and whose only near ally,
Meropogon breweri, was discovered by M. Du Chaillu in West
Africa!

The two Celebes Hornbills have no close allies in those which
abound in the surrounding countries. The only Thrush, Geocichla
erythronota, is most nearly allied to a species peculiar to
Timor. Two of the Flycatchers are closely allied to Indian
species, which are not found in the Malay islands. Two genera
somewhat allied to the Magpies (Streptocitta and Charitornis),
but whose affinities are so doubtful that Professor Schlegel
places them among the Starlings, are entirely confined to
Celebes. They are beautiful long-tailed birds, with black and
white plumage, and with the feathers of the head somewhat rigid
and scale-like.

Doubtfully allied to the Starlings are two other very isolated
and beautiful birds. One, Enodes erythrophrys, has ashy and
yellow plumage, but is ornamented with broad stripes of orange-
red above the eyes. The other, Basilornis celebensis, is a blue-
black bird with a white patch on each side of the breast, and the
head ornamented with a beautiful compressed scaly crest of
feathers, resembling in form that of the well-known Cock-of-the-
rock of South America. The only ally to this bird is found in
Ceram, and has the feathers of the crest elongated upwards into
quite a different form.

A still more curious bird is the Scissirostrum pagei, which
although it is at present classed in the Starling family, differs
from all other species in the form of the bill and nostrils, and
seems most nearly allied in its general structure to the Ox-
peckers (Buphaga) of tropical Africa, next to which the
celebrated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte finally placed it. It
is almost entirely of a slatey colour, with yellow bill and feet,
but the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each
terminate in a rigid, glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson.
These pretty little birds take the place of the metallic-green
starlings of the genus Calornis, which are found in most other
islands of the Archipelago, but which are absent from Celebes.
They go in flocks, feeding upon grain and fruits, often
frequenting dead trees, in holes of which they build their nests;
and they cling to the trunks as easily as woodpeckers or
creepers.

Out of eighteen Pigeons found in Celebes, eleven are peculiar to
it. Two of them, Ptilonopus gularis and Turacaena menadensis,
have their nearest allies in Timor. Two others, Carpophaga
forsteni and Phlaegenas tristigmata, most resemble Philippine
island species; and Carpophaga radiata belongs to a New Guinea
group. Lastly, in the Gallinaceous tribe, the curious helmeted
Maleo (Megacephalon rubripes) is quite isolated, having its
nearest (but still distant) allies in the Brush-turkeys of
Australia and New Guinea.

Judging, therefore, by the opinions of the eminent naturalists
who have described and classified its birds, we find that many of
the species have no near allies whatsoever in the countries which
surround Celebes, but are either quite isolated, or indicate
relations with such distant regions as New Guinea, Australia,
India, or Africa. Other cases of similar remote affinities
between the productions of distant countries no doubt exist, but
in no spot upon the globe that I am yet acquainted with, do so
many of them occur together, or do they form so decided a feature
in the natural history of the country.

The Mammalia of Celebes are very few in number, consisting of
fourteen terrestrial species and seven bats. Of the former no
less than eleven are peculiar, including two which there is
reason to believe may have been recently carried into other
islands by man. Three species which have a tolerably wide range
in the Archipelago, are: (1) The curious Lemur, Tarsius spectrum,
which is found in all the islands as far westward as Malacca; (2)
the common Malay Civet, Viverra tangalunga, which has a still
wider range; and (3) a Deer, which seems to be the same as the
Rusa hippelaphus of Java, and was probably introduced by man at
an early period.

The more characteristic species are as follow:

Cynopithecus nigrescens, a curious baboon-like monkey if not a
true baboon, which abounds all over Celebes, and is found nowhere
else but in the one small island of Batchian, into which it has
probably been introduced accidentally. An allied species is found
in the Philippines, but in no other island of the Archipelago is
there anything resembling them. These creatures are about the
size of a spaniel, of a jet-black colour, and have the projecting
dog-like muzzle and overhanging brows of the baboons. They have
large red callosities and a short fleshy tail, scarcely an inch
long and hardly visible. They go in large bands, living chiefly
in the trees, but often descending on the ground and robbing
gardens and orchards.

Anoa depressicornis, the Sapi-utan, or wild cow of the Malays, is
an animal which has been the cause of much controversy, as to
whether it should be classed as ox, buffalo, or antelope. It is
smaller than any other wild cattle, and in many respects seems to
approach some of the ox-like antelopes of Africa. It is found
only in the mountains, and is said never to inhabit places where
there are deer. It is somewhat smaller than a small Highland cow,
and has long straight horns, which are ringed at the base and
slope backwards over the neck.

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