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A halt was made here, and a hearty lunch was disposed of; after which, feeling rested and comparatively cool, they started once more, and before long the first shot was had at a blue-billed gaper, a lovely bird, with azure and golden bill, and jetty-black, white, and crimson plumage. "One for the doctor!" exclaimed Tom Long; and the beautiful bird was safely stowed away.
Beautiful blue-billed gapers, all claret and black and white, flitted about, catching glossy metallic-looking beetles; little green chatterers, with their crested heads, flew from spray to spray; and tiny sun-birds, in their gorgeous mail of gold and bronze and purple, flew from flower to flower in search of honey.
"Yes, Nat," he continued, "from the East, where the bamboo is used for endless purposes. It is hard, and will bear a sharp point, and is so abundant that the people seem to have no end to the use they make of it." "And have you seen birds like these alive, sir?" "No, Nat, but I hope to do so before long. That blue-billed gaper probably came from Malacca, and the trogon too.
I want a few trogons, and the blue-billed gaper. Then you might get me the green chatterer, and any new birds you could see." "Yes, sir." "And look here, Long; the woods here are the chosen resort of the great argus pheasant. I don't suppose you would be able to come across one, but if you do " "Down him," said Tom Long. "Exactly," said the doctor.
"This pretty dark bird with the black and white and crimson plumage is the rain-bird the blue-billed gaper; and this softly-feathered fellow with the bristles at the side of his bill is a trogon." "A trogon, sir?" "Yes, Nat, a trogon; and these little bamboo skewers tell me directly that the birds came from somewhere in the East." I looked at him wonderingly.
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