Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 18

Sciurus macrurus, _Forst_.

Tennentii, _Layard_.

penicillatus, _Leach_.

trilineatus, _Waterh_.

Sciuropterus Layardi, _Kelaart_.

Pteromys petaurista, _Pall_.

Mus bandicota, _Bechst_.

Kok, _Gray_.

rufescens, _Gray_.

nemoralis, _Blyth_.

Indicus, _Geoff_.

fulvidiventris, _Blyth_.

Nesoki _Hardwickii, Gray_.

Golunda Neuera, _Kelaart_.

Ellioti, _Gray_.

Gerbillus Indicus, _Hardw_.

Lepus nigricollis, _F. Cuv._ Hystrix leucurus, _Sykes_.

Edentata.

Manis pentadactyla, _Linn._

Pachydermata.

Elephas Indicus, _Linn._ Sus Indicus, _Gray_.

_Zeylonicus, Blyth_.

Ruminantia.

Moschus meminna, _Erxl_.

Stylocerus muntjac, _Horsf_.

Axis maculata, _H. Smith_.

Rusa Aristotelis, _Cuv_.

Cetacea.

Halicore dugung, _F. Cuv_.

NOTE (A.)

_Parasite of the Bat_.

One of the most curious peculiarities connected with the bats is their singular parasite, the Nycteribia.[1] On cursory observation, this creature appears to have neither head, antennae, eyes, nor mouth; and the earlier observers of its structure a.s.sured themselves that the place of the latter was supplied by a cylindrical sucker, which, being placed between the shoulders, the creature had no option but to turn on its back to feed. This apparent inconvenience was thought to have been compensated for by another anomaly: its three pairs of legs, armed with claws, being so arranged that they seemed to be equally distributed over its upper and under sides, the creature being thus enabled to use them like hands, and to grasp the strong hairs above it while extracting its nourishment. It moves by rolling itself rapidly along, rotating like a wheel on the extremities of its spokes, or like the clown in a pantomime hurling himself forward on hands and feet alternately. Its celerity is so great that Colonel Montague, who was one of the first to describe it minutely[2], says its speed exceeds that of any known insect, and as its joints are so flexible as to yield in every direction (like what mechanics call a "ball and socket"), its motions are exceedingly grotesque as it tumbles through the fur of the bat.

[Footnote 1: This extraordinary creature had formerly been discovered only on a few European bats. Joinville figured one which he found on the large roussette (the flying-fox), and says he had seen another on a bat of the same family. Dr. Templeton observed them in Ceylon in great abundance on the fur of the _Scotophilus Coromandelicus_, and they will, no doubt, be found on many others.]

[Footnote 2: Celeripes vespertilionis, _Mont. Lin. Trans_, xi. p. 11.]

To enable it to attain its marvellous velocity, each foot is armed with two sharp hooks, with elastic pads opposed to them, so that the hair can not only be rapidly seized and firmly held, but as quickly disengaged as the creature whirls away in its headlong career.

The insects to which it hears the nearest affinity are the _Hippoboscidae_ or "spider flies," that infest birds and horses, but, unlike them, it is unable to fly.

Its strangest peculiarity, and that which gave rise to the belief that it is headless, is its faculty when at rest of throwing back its head and pressing it close between its shoulders till the under side becomes uppermost, not a vestige of head being discernible where we would naturally look for it, and the whole seeming but a casual inequality on its back.

On closer examination this apparent tubercle is found to have a leathery attachment like a flexible neck, and by a sudden jerk the little creature is enabled to project it forward into its normal position, when it is discovered to be furnished with a mouth, antennae, and four eyes, two on each side.

The organisation of such an insect is a marvellous adaptation of physical form to special circ.u.mstances. As the nycteribia has to make its way through fur and hairs, its feet are furnished with prehensile hooks that almost convert them into hands; and being obliged to conform to the sudden flights of its patron, and accommodate itself to inverted positions, all att.i.tudes are rendered alike to it by the arrangement of its limbs, which enables it, after every possible gyration, to find itself always on its feet.

CHAP. II.

BIRDS.

Of the _Birds_ of the island, upwards of three hundred and twenty species have been indicated, for which we are indebted to the persevering labours of Dr. Templeton, Dr. Kelaart, and Mr. Layard; but many yet remain to be identified. In fact, to the eye of a stranger, their prodigious numbers, and especially the myriads of waterfowl which, notwithstanding the presence of the crocodiles, people the lakes and marshes in the eastern provinces, form one of the marvels of Ceylon.

In the glory of their plumage, the birds of the interior are surpa.s.sed by those of South America and Northern India; and the melody of their song will bear no comparison with that of the warblers of Europe, but the want of brilliancy is compensated by their singular grace of form, and the absence of prolonged and modulated harmony by the rich and melodious tones of their clear and musical calls. In the elevations of the Kandyan country there are a few, such as the robin of Neuera-ellia[1] and the long-tailed thrush[2], whose song rivals that of their European namesakes; but, far beyond the attraction of their notes, the traveller rejoices in the flute-like voices of the Oriole, the Dayal-bird[3], and some others equally charming; when, at the first dawn of day, they wake the forest with their clear _reveille_.

[Footnote 1: Pratincola atrata, _Kelaart_.]

[Footnote 2: Kittacincla macroura, _Gm_.]

[Footnote 3: Copsychus saularis, _Linn_. Called by the Europeans in Ceylon the "Magpie Robin." This is not to be confounded with the other popular favourite, the "Indian Robin" (Thamn.o.bia fulicata, _Linn_.), which is "never seen in the unfrequented jungle, but, like the coco-nut palm, which the Singhalese a.s.sert will only flourish within the sound of the human voice, it is always found near the habitations of men."--E.L.

LAYARD.]

It is only on emerging from the dense forests, and coming into the vicinity of the lakes and pasture of the low country, that birds become visible in great quant.i.ties. In the close jungle one occasionally hears the call of the copper-smith[1], or the strokes of the great orange-coloured woodp.e.c.k.e.r[2] as it beats the decaying trees in search of insects, whilst clinging to the bark with its finely-pointed claws, and leaning for support upon the short stiff feathers of its tail. And on the lofty branches of the higher trees, the hornbill[3] (the toucan of the East), with its enormous double casque, sits to watch the motions of the tiny reptiles and smaller birds on which it preys, tossing them into the air when seized, and catching them in its gigantic mandibles as they fall.[4] The remarkable excrescence on the beak of this extraordinary bird may serve to explain the statement of the Minorite friar Odoric, of Portenau in Friuli, who travelled in Ceylon in the fourteenth century, and brought suspicion on the veracity of his narrative by a.s.serting that he had there seen "_birds with two heads_."[5]

[Footnote 1: The greater red-headed Barbet (Megalaima indica, _Lath_.; M. Philippensis, _var. A. Lath_.), the incessant din of which resembles the blows of a smith hammering a cauldron.]

[Footnote 2: Brachypternus aurantius, _Linn_.]

[Footnote 3: Buceros pica, _Scop_.; B. coronata, _Bodd_. The natives a.s.sert that B. pica builds in holes in the trees, and that when incubation has fairly commenced, the female takes her seat on the eggs, and the male closes up the orifice by which she entered, leaving only a small aperture through which he feeds his partner, whilst she successfully guards their treasures from the monkey tribes; her formidable bill nearly filling the entire entrance. See a paper by Edgar L. Layard, Esq. _Mag. Nat. Hist._ March, 1853. Dr. Horsfield had previously observed the same habit in a species of Buceros in Java. (See HORSFIELD and MOORE'S _Catal. Birds_, E.I. Comp. Mus. vol. ii.) It is curious that a similar trait, though necessarily from very different instincts, is exhibited by the termites, who literally build a cell round the great progenitrix of the community, and feed her through apertures.]

[Footnote 4: The hornbill is also frugivorous, and the natives a.s.sert 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 nux-vomica. 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.--HAKLUYT, vol. ii. p. 39.]

As we emerge from the deep shade and approach the park-like openings on the verge of the low country, quant.i.ties of pea-fowl are to be found either feeding amongst the seeds and nuts in the long gra.s.s or sunning themselves on the branches of the surrounding trees. Nothing to be met with in demesnes in England can give an adequate idea either of the size or the 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 a "sport" to destroy them; and their cries at early morning are so tumultuous and incessant as to banish sleep, and amount to an actual inconvenience. Their flesh is excellent when served up hot, though it is said to be indigestible; but, when cold, it contracts a reddish and disagreeable tinge.

But of all, the most astonis.h.i.+ng in point of mult.i.tude, 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 sh.o.r.e, and the innumerable salt marshes and lagoons to the south of Trincomalie. These, and the profusion of perching birds, fly-catchers, finches, and thrushes, which 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, where it feeds 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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]