ere two kingfishers, Tanysiptera
acis and Ceyx Cajeli; a beautiful sunbird, Nectarines 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.

CHAPTER XXVII. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MOLUCCAS.

THE Moluccas consist of three large islands, Gilolo, Ceram, and Bouru,
the two former being each about two hundred miles long; and a great
number of smaller isles and islets, the most important of which are
Batchian, Morty, Obi, Ke, Timor-Laut, and Amboyna; and among the smaller
ones, Ternate, Tidore, Kaioa, and Banda. They occupy a space of ten
degrees of latitude by eight of longitude, and they are connected by
groups of small islets to New Guinea on the east, the Philippines on the
north, Celebes on the west, and Timor on the south. It will be as well
to bear in mind these main features of extent and geographical position,
while we survey their animal productions and discuss their relations
to the countries which surround them on every side in almost equal
proximity.

We will first consider the Mammalia or warm-blooded quadrupeds,
which present us with some singular anomalies. The land mammals are
exceedingly few in number, only ten being yet known from the entire
group. The bats or aerial mammals, on the other hand, are numerous--not
less than twenty-five species being already known. But even this
exceeding poverty of terrestrial mammals does not at all represent the
real poverty of the Moluccas in this class of animals; for, as we shall
soon see, there is good reason to believe that several of the species
have been introduced by man, either purposely or by accident.

The only quadrumanous animal in the group is the curious baboon-monkey,
Cynopithecus nigrescens, already described as being one of the
characteristic animals of Celebes. This is found only in the island of
Batchian; and it seems so much out of place there as it is difficult
to imagine how it could have reached the island by any natural means
of dispersal, and yet not have passed by the same means over the narrow
strait to Gilolo--that it seems more likely to have originated from
some individuals which had escaped from confinement, these and similar
animals being often kept as pets by the Malays, and carried about in