that when endeavouring to detach a fruit, if the stem is too tough to be
severed by his mandibles, he flings himself off the branch so as to add
the weight of his body to the pressure of his beak. The hornbill abounds
in Cuttack, and bears there the name of "Kuchila-Kai," or Kuchila-eater,
from its partiality for the fruit of the Strychnus nuxvomica. The
natives regard its flesh as a sovereign specific for rheumatic
affections.--_Asiat. Res._ ch. xv. p. 184.]
[Footnote 5: _Itinerarius_ FRATRIS ODORICI, de Foro Julii de
Portu-vahonis, &c.--HAKLUYT, vol. ii. p. 39.]
[Illustration: THE HORNBILL.]
The Singhalese have a belief that the hornbill never resorts to the
water to drink; but that it subsists exclusively by what it catches in
its prodigious bill while rain is falling. This they allege is
associated with the incessant screaming which it keeps up during
showers.
As we emerge from the dark shade, and approach park-like openings on the
verge of the low country, quantities of pea-fowl are to be found either
feeding on the seeds among the long grass or sunning themselves on the
branches of the surrounding trees. Nothing to be met with in English
demesnes can give an adequate idea of the size and magnificence of this
matchless bird when seen in his native solitudes. Here he generally
selects some projecting branch, from which his plumage may hang free of
the foliage, and, if there be a dead and leafless bough, he is certain
to choose it for his resting-place, whence he droops his wings and
suspends his gorgeous train, or spreads it in the morning sun to drive
off the damps and dews of the night.
In some of the unfrequented portions of the eastern province, to which
Europeans rarely resort, and where the pea-fowl are unmolested by the
natives, their number is so extraordinary that, regarded as game, it
ceases to be "sport" to destroy them; and their cries at early dawn are
so tumultuous and incessant as to banish sleep, and amount to an actual
inconvenience. Their flesh is excellent in flavour when served up hot,
though it is said to be indigestible; but, when cold, it contracts a
reddish and disagreeable tinge.
The European fable of the jackdaw borrowing the plumage of the peacock,
has its counterpart in Ceylon, where the popular legend runs that the
pea-fowl stole the plumage of a bird called by the natives _avitchia_. I
have not been able to identify the species which bears this name; but it
utters a cry resembling the word _matkiang!_ which in Singhalese means,
"I _will_ complain!" This they believe is addressed by the bird to the
rising sun, imploring redress for its wrongs. The _avitchia_ is
described as somewhat less than a crow, the colours of its plumage being
green, mingled with red.
But of all, the most astonishing in point of multitude, as well as the
most interesting from their endless variety, are the myriads of aquatic
birds and waders which frequent the lakes and watercourses; especially
those along the coast near Batticaloa, between the mainland and the sand
formations of the shore, and the innumerable salt marshes and lagoons to
the south of Trincomalie. These, and the profusion of perching birds,
fly-catchers, finches, and thrushes, that appear in the open country,
afford sufficient quarry for the raptorial and predatory
species--eagles, hawks, and falcons--whose daring sweeps and effortless
undulations are striking objects in the cloudless sky.
I. ACCIPITRES. _Eagles_.--The Eagles, however, are small, and as
compared with other countries rare; except, perhaps, the crested
eagle[1], which haunts the mountain provinces and the lower hills,
disquieting the peasantry by its ravages amongst their poultry; and the
gloomy serpent eagle[2], which, descending from its eyrie in the lofty
jungle, and uttering a loud and plaintive cry, sweeps cautiously around
the lonely tanks and marshes, to feed upon the reptiles on their margin.
The largest eagle is the great sea Erne[3], seen on the northern coasts
and the salt lakes of the eastern provinces, particularly when the
receding tide leaves bare an expanse of beach, over which it hunts, in
company with the fishing eagle[4], sacred to Siva. Unlike its
companions, however, the sea eagle rejects garbage for living prey, and
especially for the sea snakes which abound on the northern coasts. These
it seizes by descending with its wings half closed, and, suddenly
darting down its talons, it soars aloft again with its writhing
victim.[5]
[Footnote 1: Spizaëtuslimnaëtus, _Horsf_. The race of these birds in the
Deccan and Ceylon are rather more crested, originating the Sp.
Cristatellus, _Auct_.]
[Footnote 2: Which Gould believes to be the _Hæmatornis Bacha_, Daud.]
[Footnote 3: Pontoaëtus leucogaster, _Gmel_.]
[Footnote 4: Haliastur Indus, _Bodd._]
[Footnote 5: E.L. Layard. Europeans have given this bird the name of the
"Brahminy Kite," probably from observing the superstitious feeling of
the natives regarding it, who believe that when two armies are about to
engage, its appearance prognosticates victory to the party over whom it
hovers.]
_Hawks_.--The beautiful Peregrine Falcon[1] is rare, but the Kestrel[2]
is found almost universally; and the bold and daring Goshawk[3] wherever
wild crags and precipices afford safe breeding places. In the district
of Anarajapoora, where it is trained for hawking, it is usual, in lieu
of a hood, to darken its eyes by means of a silken thread passed through
holes in the eyelids. The ignoble birds of prey, the Kites[4], keep
close by the shore, and hover round the returning boats of the fishermen
to feast on the fry rejected from their nets.
[Footnote 1: Falco peregrinus, _Linn._]
[Footnote 2: Tinnunculus alaudarius, _Briss._]
[Footnote 3: Astur trivirgatus, _Temm._]
[Footnote 4: Milvus govinda, _Sykes._ Dr. Hamilton Buchanan remarks that
when gorged this bird delights to sit on the entablature of buildings,
exposing its back to the hottest rays of the sun, placing its breast
against the wall, and stretching out its wings _exactly as the Egyptian
Hawk is represented on the monuments_.]
_Owls_.--Of the nocturnal accipitres the most remarkable is the brown
owl, which, from its hideous yell, has acquired the name of the
"Devil-Bird."[1] The Singhalese regard it literally with horror, and its
scream by night in the vicinity of a village is bewailed as the
harbinger of impending calamity.[2] There is a popular legend in
connection with it, to the effect that a morose and savage husband, who
suspected the fidelity of his wife, availed himself of her absence to
kill her child, of whose paternity he was doubtful, and on her return
placed before her a curry prepared from its flesh. Of this the unhappy
woman partook, till discovering the crime by finding the finger of her
infant, she fled in frenzy to the forest, and there destroyed herself.
On her death she was metamorphosed, according to the Buddhist belief,
into an _ulama_, or Devil-bird, which still at nightfall horrifies the
villagers by repeating the frantic screams of the bereaved mother in her
agony.
[Footnote 1: Syrnium Indranee, _Sykes._ Mr. Blyth writes to me from
Calcutta that there are some doubts about this bird. There would appear
to be three or four distinguishable races, the Ceylon bird approximating
most nearly to that of the Malayan Peninsula.]
[Illustration: THE "DEVIL BIRD."]
[Footnote 2: The horror of this nocturnal scream was equally prevalent
in the West as in the East. Ovid introduces it in his _Fasti_, L. vi. l.
139; and Tibullus in his Elegies, L. i. El. 5. Statius says--
Nocturnæque gemunt striges, et feralla bubo
_Damna canens_. Theb. iii. l. 511.
But Pliny, l. xi. c. 93, doubts as to what bird produced the sound;--and
the details of Ovid's description do not apply to an owl.
Mr. Mitford, of the Ceylon Civil Service, to whom I am indebted for many
valuable notes relative to the birds of the island, regards the
identification of the Singhalese Devil-Bird as open to similar doubt: he
says--"The Devil-Bird is not an owl. I never heard it until I came to
Kornegalle, where it haunts the rocky hill at the back of
Government-house. Its ordinary note is a magnificent clear shout like
that of a human being, and which can be heard at a great distance, and
has a fine effect in the silence of the closing night. It has another
cry like that of a hen just caught, but the sounds which have earned for
it its bad name, and which I have heard but once to perfection, are
indescribable, the most appalling that can be imagined, and scarcely to
be heard without shuddering; I can only compare it to a boy in torture,
whose screams are being stopped by being strangled. I have offered
rewards for a specimen, but without success. The only European who had
seen and fired at one agreed with the natives that it is of the size of
a pigeon, with a long tail. I believe it is a Podargus or Night Hawk."
In a subsequent note he further says--"I have since seen two birds by
moonlight, one of the size and shape of a cuckoo, the other a large
black bird, which I imagine to be the one which gives these calls."]
II. PASSERES. _Swallows_.--Within thirty-five miles of Caltura, on the
western coast, are inland caves, to which the Esculent Swift[1] resorts,
and there builds the "edible bird's nest," so highly prized in China.
Near the spot a few Chinese immigrants have established themselves, who
rent the nests as a royalty from the government, and make an annual
export of the produce. But the Swifts are not confined to this district,
and caves containing them have been found far in the interior, a fact
which complicates the still unexplained mystery of the composition of
their nest; and, notwithstanding the power of wing possessed by these
birds, adds something to the difficulty of believing that it consists of
glutinous material obtained from algæ.[2] In the nests brought to me
there was no trace of organisation; and the original material, whatever
it be, is so elaborated by the swallow as to present somewhat the
appearance and consistency of strings of isinglass. The quantity of
these nests exported from Ceylon is trifling.
[Footnote 1: Collocalia brevirostris, _McClell_.; C. nidifica, _Gray_.]
[Footnote 2: An epitome of what has been written on this subject will be
found in _Dr. Horsfield's Catalogue_ of the Birds in the E.I. Comp.
Museum, vol. i. p. 101, &c. Mr. Morris assures me, that he has found the
nests of the Esculent Swallow eighty miles distant from the sea.]
_Kingfishers_.--In solitary places, where no sound breaks the silence
except the gurgle of the river as it sweeps round the rocks, the lonely
Kingfisher, the emblem of vigilance and patience, sits upon an
overhanging branch, his turquoise plumage hardly less intense in its
lustre than the deep blue of the sky above him; and so intent is his
watch upon the passing fish that intrusion fails to scare him from his
post.
_Sun Birds_.--In the gardens the tiny Sun Birds[1] (known as the Humming
Birds of Ceylon) hover all day long, attracted to the plants, over which
they hang poised on their glittering wings, and inserting their curved
beaks to extract the insects that nestle in the flowers.
[Footnote 1: Nectarina Zeylanica, _Linn._]
Perhaps the most graceful of the birds of Ceylon in form and motions,
and the most chaste in colouring, is the one which Europeans call "the
Bird of Paradise,"[1] and natives "the Cotton Thief," from the
circumstance that its tail consists of two long white feathers, which
stream behind it as it flies. Mr. Layard says:--"I have often watched
them, when seeking their insect prey, turn suddenly on their perch and
_whisk their long tails with a jerk_ over the bough, as if to protect
them from injury."
[Footnote 1: Tchitrea paradisi, _Linn._]
[Illustration: TCHITREA PARADISI.]
The tail is sometimes brown, and the natives have the idea that the bird
changes its plumage at stated periods, and that the tail-feathers become
white and brown in alternate years. The fact of the variety of plumage
is no doubt true, but this story as to the alternation of colours in the
same individual requires confirmation.[1]
[Footnote 1: The engraving of the Tchitrea given on page 244 is copied
by permission from one of the splendid drawings in. MR. GOULD'S _Birds
of India_.]
_The Bulbul_.--The _Condatchee Bulbul_[1], which, from the crest on its
head, is called by the Singhalese the "Konda Cooroola," or _Tuft bird_,
is regarded by the natives as the most "_game_" of all birds; and
training it to fight was one of the duties entrusted by the Kings of
Kandy to the Cooroowa, or Head-man, who had charge of the King's animals
and Birds. For this purpose the Bulbul is taken from the nest as soon as
the sex is distinguishable by the tufted crown; and secured by a string,
is taught to fly from hand to hand of its keeper. When pitted against an
antagonist, such is the obstinate courage of this little creature that
it will sink from exhaustion rather than release its hold. This
propensity, and the ordinary character of its notes, render it
impossible that the Bulbul of India could be identical with the Bulbul
of Iran, the "Bird of a Thousand Songs,"[2] of which, poets say that its
delicate passion for the rose gives a plaintive character to its note.
[Footnote 1: Pycnonotus hæmorrhous, _Gmel_.]
[Footnote 2: "Hazardasitaum" the Persian name for the bulbul. "The
Persians," according to Zakary ben Mohamed al Caswini, "say the bulbul
has a passion for the rose, and laments and cries when he sees it
pulled."--OUSELEY'S _Oriental Collections_, vol. i. p. 16. According to
Pallas it is the true nightingale of Europe, Sylvia luscinia, which the
Armenians call _boulboul_, and the Crim-Tartars _byl-byl-i_.]
_Tailor-Bird_.--_The Weaver-Bird_.--The tailor-bird[1] having completed
her nest, sewing together leaves by passing through them a cotton thread
twisted by herself, leaps from branch to branch to testify her happiness
by a clear and merry note; and the Indian weaver[2], a still more
ingenious artist, hangs its pendulous dwelling from a projecting bough;
twisting it with grass into a form somewhat resembling a bottle with a
prolonged neck, the entrance being inverted, so as to baffle the
approaches of its enemies, the tree snakes and other reptiles. The
natives assert that the male bird carries fire flies to the nest, and
fastens them to its sides by a particle of soft mud;--Mr. Layard assures
me that although he has never succeeded in finding the fire fly, the
nest of the male bird (for the female occupies another during
incubation) invariably contains a patch of mud on each side of the
perch. Grass is apparently the most convenient material for the purposes
of the Weaver-bird when constructing its nest, but other substances are
often substituted, and some nests which I brought from Ceylon proved to
be formed with delicate strips from the fronds of the dwarf date-palm,
_Phoenix paludosa_, which happened to grow near the breeding place.
[Footnote 1: Orthotomus longicauda, _Gmel_.]
[Footnote 2: Ploceus baya, _Blyth_.; P. Philippinus, _Auct_.]
[Illustration: "CISSA PUELLA."]
Amongst the birds of this order, one which, as far as I know, is
peculiar to the island is _Layard's Mountain-jay_ (_Cissa puella_, Blyth
and Layard), is distinguished not less by the beautiful blue colour
which enlivens its plumage, than by the elegance of its form and the
grace of its attitudes. It frequents the hill country, and is found
about the mountain streams at Neuera-ellia, and elsewhere.[1]
[Footnote 1: The engraving above is taken by permission of Mr. Gould
from one of his drawings for his _Birds of India_.]
_Crows_.--Of all the Ceylon birds of this order the most familiar and
notorious are the small glossy crows, whose shining black plumage shot
with blue has suggested the title of _Corvus splendens_.[1] They
frequent the towns in companies, and domesticate themselves in the close
vicinity of every house; and it may possibly serve to account for the
familiarity and audacity which they exhibit in their intercourse with
men, that the Dutch during their sovereignty in Ceylon, enforced severe
penalties against any one killing a crow, under the belief that they
were instrumental in extending the growth of cinnamon by feeding on the
fruit, and thus disseminating the undigested seed.[2]
[Footnote 1: There is another species, the _C. culminatus_, so called
from the convexity of its bill; but though seen in the towns, it lives
chiefly in the open country, and may be constantly observed wherever
there are buffaloes, perched on their backs and engaged, in company with
the small Minah (_Acridotheres tristis_), in freeing them from ticks.]
[Footnote 2: WOLF'S _Life and Adventures_, p. 117.]
So accustomed are the natives to their presence and exploits, that, like
the Greeks and Romans, they have made the movements of crows the basis
of their auguries; and there is no end to the vicissitudes of good and
evil fortune which may not be predicted from the direction of their
flight, the hoarse or mellow notes of their croaking, the variety of
trees on which they rest, and the numbers in which they are seen to
assemble.
All day long these birds are engaged in watching either the offal of the
offices, or the preparation for meals in the dining-room: and as doors
and windows are necessarily opened to relieve the heat, nothing is more
common than the passage of a crow across the room, lifting on the wing
some ill-guarded morsel from the dinner-table. No article, however
unpromising its quality, provided only it be portable, can with safety
be left unguarded in any apartment accessible to them. The contents of
ladies' work-boxes, kid gloves, and pocket handkerchiefs vanish
instantly if exposed near a window or open door. They open paper parcels
to ascertain the contents; they will undo the knot on a napkin if it
encloses anything eatable, and I have known a crow to extract the peg
which fastened the lid of a basket in order to plunder the provender
within.
On one occasion a nurse seated in a garden adjoining a regimental
mess-room, was terrified by seeing a bloody clasp-knife drop from the
air at her feet; but the mystery was explained on learning that a crow,
which had been watching the cook chopping mince-meat, had seized the
moment when his head was turned to carry off the knife.
One of these ingenious marauders, after vainly attitudinising in front
of a chained watch-dog, that was lazily gnawing a bone, and after
fruitlessly endeavouring to divert his attention by dancing before him,
with head awry and eye askance, at length flew away for a moment, and
returned bringing a companion which perched itself on a branch a few
yards in the rear. The crow's grimaces were now actively renewed, but
with no better success, till its confederate, poising itself on its
wings, descended with the utmost velocity, striking the dog upon the
spine with all the force of its strong beak. The _ruse_ was successful;
the dog started with surprise and pain, but not quickly enough to seize
his assailant, whilst the bone he had been gnawing was snatched away by
the first crow the instant his head was turned. Two well-authenticated
instances of the recurrence of this device came within my knowledge at
Colombo, and attest the sagacity and powers of communication and
combination possessed by these astute and courageous birds.
On the approach of evening the crows near Colombo assemble in noisy
groups along the margin of the freshwater lake which surrounds the fort
on the eastern side; and here for an hour or two they enjoy the luxury
of throwing the water over their shining backs, and arranging their
plumage decorously, after which they disperse, each taking the direction
of his accustomed quarters for the night.[1]
[Footnote 1: A similar habit has been noticed in the damask Parrots of
Africa (_Palæornis fuscus_) which daily resort at the same hour to their
accustomed pools to bathe.]
During the storms which usher in the monsoon, it has been observed, that
when coco-nut palms are destroyed by lightning, the effect frequently
extends beyond a single tree, and from the contiguity and conduction of
the spreading leaves, or some other peculiar cause, large groups will be
affected by a single flash, a few killed instantly, and the rest doomed
to rapid decay. In Belligam Bay, a little to the east of Point-de-Galle,
a small island, which is covered with coco-nuts, has acquired the name
of "Crow Island," from being the resort of those birds, which are seen
hastening towards it in thousands towards sunset. A few years ago,
during a violent storm of thunder, such was the destruction of the crows
that the beach for some distance was covered with a black line of their
remains, and the grove on which they had been resting was to a great
extent destroyed by the same flash.[1]
[Footnote 1: Similar instances are recorded in other countries of sudden
and prodigious mortality amongst crows; but whether occasioned by
lightning seems uncertain. In 1839 thirty-three thousand dead crows were
found on the shores of a lake in the county Westmeath in Ireland after a
storm.--THOMPSON'S _Nat. Hist. Ireland_, vol. i. p. 319. PATTERSON in
his _Zoology_, p. 356, mentions other cases.]
III. SCANSORES. _Parroquets_.--Of the Psittacidæ the only examples are
the parroquets, of which the most renowned is the _Palæornis Alexandri_,
which has the historic distinction of bearing the name of the great
conqueror of India, having been the first of its race introduced to the
knowledge of Europe on the return of his expedition. An idea of their
number may be formed from the following statement of Mr. Layard, as to
the multitudes which are to be found on the western coast. "At Chilaw, I
have seen such vast flights of parroquets hurrying towards the coco-nut
trees which overhang the bazaar, that their noise drowned the Babel of
tongues bargaining for the evening provisions. Hearing of the swarms
that resorted to this spot, I posted myself on a bridge some half mile
distant, and attempted to count the flocks which came from a single
direction to the eastward. About four o'clock in the afternoon,
straggling parties began to wend towards home, and in the course of half
an hour the current fairly set in. But I soon found that I had no longer
distinct flocks to count, it became one living screaming stream. Some
flew high in the air till right above their homes, and dived abruptly
downward with many evolutions till on a level with the trees; others
kept along the ground and dashed close by my face with the rapidity of
thought, their brilliant plumage shining with an exquisite lustre in the
sun-light. I waited on the spot till the evening closed, when I could
hear, though no longer distinguish, the birds fighting for their
perches, and on firing a shot they rose with a noise like the 'rushing
of a mighty wind,' but soon settled again, and such a din commenced as I
shall never forget; the shrill screams of the birds, the fluttering of
their innumerable wings, and the rustling of the leaves of the palm
trees was almost deafening, and I was glad at last to escape to the
Government Rest House."[1]
[Footnote 1: _Annals of Nat. Hist._ vol. xiii. p. 263.]
IV. COLUMBIDÆ. _Pigeons_.--Of pigeons and doves there are at least a
dozen species. Some live entirely on trees[1], never alighting on the
ground; others, notwithstanding the abundance of food and warmth, are
migratory[2], allured, as the Singhalese allege, by the ripening of the
cinnamon berries, and hence one species is known in the southern
provinces as the "Cinnamon Dove." Others feed on the fruits of the
banyan: and it is probably to their instrumentality that this marvellous
tree chiefly owes its diffusion, its seeds being carried by them to
remote localities. A very beautiful pigeon, peculiar to the mountain
range, discovered in the lofty trees at Neuera-ellia, has, in compliment
to the Viscountess Torrington, been named _Carpophaga Torringtoniæ_.
[Footnote 1: Treron bicincta. _Jerd_.]
[Footnote 2: _Alsocomus puniceus_, the "Season Pigeon" of Ceylon, so
called from its periodical arrival and departure.]