The road was shady and apparently much trodden by horses and cattle, and I quickly obtained some butterflies I had not before met with.

Soon a couple of reports were heard, and coming up to my boys I found they had shot two specimens of one of the finest of known cuckoos, Phoenicophaus callirhynchus.

This bird derives its name from its large bill being coloured of a brilliant yellow, red, and black, in about equal proportions.

The tail is exceedingly long, and of a fine metallic purple, while the plumage of the body is light coffee brown.

It is one of the characteristic birds of the island of Celebes, to which it is confined.
After sauntering along for a couple of hours we reached a small river, so deep that horses could only cross it by swimming, so we had to turn back; but as we were getting hungry, and the water of the almost stagnant river was too muddy to drink, we went towards a house a few hundred yards off.