Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 17

_Ceylon Elk_.--In the mountains, the Ceylon elk[1], which reminds one of the red deer of Scotland, attains the height of four or five feet; it abounds in all places which are intersected by shady rivers; where, though its hunting affords an endless resource to the sportsmen, its venison scarcely equals in quality the inferior beef of the lowland ox.

In the glades and park-like openings that diversify the great forests of the interior, the spotted Axis troops in herds as numerous as the fallow deer in England; and, in journeys through the jungle, when often dependent on the guns of our party for the precarious supply of the table, we found the flesh of the Axis[2] and the Muntjac[3] a sorry subst.i.tute for that of the pea-fowl, the jungle-c.o.c.k, and flamingo. The occurrence of albinos is very frequent in troops of the axis. Deer's horns are an article of export from Ceylon, and considerable quant.i.ties are annually sent to the United Kingdom.

[Footnote 1: Rusa Aristotelis. Dr. GRAY has lately shown that this is the great _axis_ of Cuvier.--_Oss. Foss._ 502, t. 39, f. 10. The Singhalese, on following the elk, frequently effect their approaches by so imitating the call of the animal as to induce them to respond. An instance occurred during my residence in Ceylon, in which two natives, whose mimicry had mutually deceived them, crept so close together in the jungle that one shot the other, supposing the cry to proceed from the game.]

[Footnote 2: Axis maculata, _H. Smith_.]

[Footnote 3: Stylocerus muntjac, _Horsf_.]

VII. PACHYDERMATA. _The Elephant._--The elephant and the wild boar, the Singhalese "waloora," are the only representatives of the _pachydermatous_ order. The latter, which differs in no respect from the wild boar of India, is found in droves in all parts of the island where vegetation and water are abundant. The elephant, the lord paramount of the Ceylon forests, is to be met with in every district, on the confines of the woods, in whose depths he finds concealment and shade during the hours when the sun is high, and from which he emerges only at twilight to wend his way towards the rivers and tanks, where he luxuriates till dawn, when he again seeks the retirement of the deep forests. This n.o.ble animal fills so dignified a place both in the zoology and oeconomy of Ceylon, and his habits in a state of nature have been so much misunderstood, that I shall devote a separate section to his defence from misrepresentation, and to an exposition of what, from observation and experience, I believe to be his genuine character when free in his native domains.

VIII. CETACEA.--Among the Cetacea the occurrence of the Dugong[1] on various points of the coast, and especially on the western side of the island, will be noticed elsewhere; and whales are so frequently seen that they have been captured within sight of Colombo, and more than once their carcases, after having been flinched by the whalers, have floated on sh.o.r.e near the light-house, tainting the atmosphere within the fort by their rapid decomposition.

[Footnote 1: _Halicore dugong_, F. Cuv.]

From this sketch of the Mammalia it will be seen that, in its general features, this branch of the Fauna bears a striking resemblance to that of Southern India, although many of the larger animals of the latter are unknown in Ceylon; and, on the other hand, some species discovered there are altogether peculiar to the island. A deer[1] as large as the Axis, but differing from it in the number and arrangement of its spots, has been described by Dr. Kelaart, to whose vigilance the natural history of Ceylon is indebted, amongst others, for the identification of two new species of monkeys[2], a number of curious shrews[3], and an orange-coloured ichneumon[4], before unknown. There are also two descriptions of squirrels[5] that have not as yet been discovered elsewhere, one of them belonging to those equipped with a parachute[6], as well as some local varieties of the palm squirrel (Sciurus penicillatus, _Leach_).[7]

[Footnote 1: Cervus orizus, KELAART, _Prod. F. Zeyl_., p. 83.]

[Footnote 2: Presbytes ursinus, _Blyth_, and P. Thersites, _Elliot_.]

[Footnote 3: Sorex monta.n.u.s, S. ferrugineus, and Feroculus macropus.]

[Footnote 4: Herpestes fulvescens, KELAART, _Prod. Fann. Zeylan_., App.

p. 42.]

[Footnote 5: Sciurus Tennentii, _Layard_.]

[Footnote 6: Sciuropterus Layardi, _Kelaart_.]

[Footnote 7: There is a rat found only in the Cinnamon Gardens at Colombo, Mus Ceylonus, _Kelaart_; and a mouse which Dr. Kelaart discovered at Trincomalie, M. fulvidi-ventris, _Blyth_, both peculiar to Ceylon. Dr. TEMPLETON has noticed a little shrew (Corsira purpurascens, _Mag. Nat. Hist_. 1855, p. 238) at Neuera-ellia, not as yet observed elsewhere.]

But the Ceylon Mammalia, besides wanting a number of minor animals found in the Indian peninsula, cannot boast such a ruminant as the majestic Gaur[1], which inhabits the great forests from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya; and, providentially, the island is equally free of the formidable tiger and the ferocious wolf of Hindustan.

[Footnote 1: Bos cavifrons, _Hodgs_, B. frontalis, _Lamb_.]

The Hyena and Cheetah[1], common in Southern India, are unknown in Ceylon; and though abundant in deer, the island possesses no example of the Antelope or the Gazelle.

[Footnote 1: Felis jubata, _Schreb_.]

_List of Ceylon Mammalia._

A list of the Mammalia of Ceylon is subjoined. In framing it, as well as the lists appended to other chapters on the Fauna of the island, the princ.i.p.al object in view has been to exhibit the extent to which its natural history had been investigated, and collections made up to the period of my leaving the colony in 1850. It has been considered expedient to exclude a few individuals which have not had the advantage of a direct comparison with authentic specimens, either at Calcutta or in England. This will account for the omission of a number which have appeared in other catalogues, but of which many, though ascertained to exist, have not been submitted to this rigorous process of identification.

The greater portion of the species of mammals and birds contained in these lists will be found, with suitable references to the most accurate descriptions, in the admirable catalogue of the collection at the India House, now in course of publication under the care of Dr. Horsfield.

This work cannot be too highly extolled, not alone for the scrupulous fidelity with which the description of each species is referred to its first discoverer, but also for the pains which have been taken to elaborate synonymes and to collate from local periodicals and other sources, little accessible to ordinary inquirers, such incidents and traits as are calculated to ill.u.s.trate characteristics and habits.

Quadrumana.

Presbytes cephalopterus, _Zimm_.

ursinus, _Blyth_.

Priamus, _Elliot_ & _Blyth_.

Thersites, _Blyth_.

Macacus pileatus, _Shaw_ & _Desm_.

Loris gracilis, _Geoff_.

Cheiroptera.

Pteropus Edwardsii, _Geoff_.

Leschenaultii, _Dum_.

Cynopterus marginatus, _Hamilt_.

Megaderma spasma, _Linn_.

lyra, _Geoff_.

Rhinolophus _affinis, Horsf_.

Hipposideros murinus, _Elliot_.

speoris, _Elliot_.

armiger, _Hodgs_.

vulgaris, _Horsf_.

Kerivoula picta, _Pall_.

Taphozous longima.n.u.s, _Hardw_.

Scotophilus Coromandelicus, _F. Cuv_.

_adversus, Horsf_.

Temminkii, _Horsf_.

Tickelli, _Blyth_.

Heathii.

Carnivora.

Sorex coerulescens, _Shaw_.

ferrugincus, _Kelaart_.

serpentarius, _Is. Geoff_.

monta.n.u.s, _Kelaart_.

Feroculus macropus, _Kelaart_.

Ursus l.a.b.i.atus, _Blainv_.

Lutra nair, _F. Cuv_.

Canis aureus, _Linn_.

Viverra Indica, _Geoff., Hodgs_.

Cynictis Maccarthiae, _Gray_.

Herpestes vitticollis, _Benn_.

griseus, _Gm_.

Smithii, _Gray_.

fulvescens, _Kelaart_.

Paradoxurus typus, _F. Cuv_.

Ceylonicus, _Pall_.

Felis pardus, _Linn_.

chaus, _Guldens_.

viverrinus, _Benn_.

Rodentia.