ten o'clock in the morning
The lory is of the size of a pigeon , the plumage dashed with green , part of the wings crimson , and its crest bordered with white . To the young boy belonged the honour of this shot , and he was proud enough of it . Lories are better food than the jacamar , the flesh of which is rather tough , but it was difficult to persuade Pencroft that he had not killed the king of eatable birds . It was ten o'clock in the morning when the canoe reached a second angle of the Mercy , nearly five miles from its mouth . Here a halt was made for breakfast under the shade of some splendid trees . The river still measured from sixty to seventy feet in breadth , and its bed from five to six feet in depth . The engineer had observed that it was increased by numerous affluents , but they were unnavigable , being simply little streams .