Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon Part 20

_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 circ.u.mstance 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._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 s.e.x 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 pa.s.sion for the rose gives a plaintive character to its note.

[Footnote 1: Pycnonotus haemorrhous, _Gmel_.]

[Footnote 2: "Hazardasitaum" the Persian name for the bulbul. "The Persians," according to Zakary ben Mohamed al Caswini, "say the bulbul has a pa.s.sion 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 pa.s.sing 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 gra.s.s 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 a.s.sert that the male bird carries fire flies to the nest, and fastens them to its sides by a particle of soft mud;--Mr. Layard a.s.sures 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. Gra.s.s is apparently the most convenient material for the purposes of the Weaver-bird when constructing its nest, but other substances are often subst.i.tuted, 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_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "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 att.i.tudes. 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 s.h.i.+ning black plumage shot with blue has suggested the t.i.tle 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 hoa.r.s.e or mellow notes of their croaking, the variety of trees on which they rest, and the numbers in which they are seen to a.s.semble.

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 pa.s.sage 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 att.i.tudinising 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 a.s.sailant, whilst the bone he had been gnawing was s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 a.s.semble 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 (_Palaeornis 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 sh.o.r.es 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 Psittacidae the only examples are the parroquets, of which the most renowned is the _Palaeornis 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 mult.i.tudes 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 s.h.i.+ning with an exquisite l.u.s.tre 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 'rus.h.i.+ng 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. COLUMBIDae. _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 Torringtoniae_.

[Footnote 1: Treron bicincta. _Jerd_.]

[Footnote 2: _Alsocomus puniceus_, the "Season Pigeon" of Ceylon, so called from its periodical arrival and departure.]

Another, called by the natives _neela-cobeya_[1], although strikingly elegant both in shape and colour, is still more remarkable for the singularly soothing effect of its low and harmonious voice. A gentleman who has spent many years in the jungle, in writing to me of this bird and of the effects of its melodious song, says, that "its soft and melancholy notes, as they came from some solitary place in the forest, were the most gentle sounds I ever listened to. Some sentimental smokers a.s.sert that the influence of the propensity is to make them feel _as if they could freely forgive all who had ever offended them_; and I can say with truth such has been the effect on my own nerves of the plaintive murmurs of the neela-cobeya, that sometimes, when irritated, and not without reason, by the perverseness of some of my native followers, the feeling has almost instantly subsided into placidity on suddenly hearing the loving tones of these beautiful birds."

[Footnote 1: Chalcophaps Indicus, _Linn._]

V. GALLINae. _The Ceylon Jungle-fowl_.--The jungle-fowl of Ceylon[1] is shown by the peculiarity of its plumage to be not only distinct from the Indian species, but peculiar to the island. It has never yet bred or survived long in captivity, and no living specimens have been successfully transmitted to Europe. It abounds in all parts of the island, but chiefly in the lower ranges of mountains; and one of the vivid memorials which are a.s.sociated with our journeys through the hills, is its clear cry, which sounds like a person calling "George Joyce,"[2] and rises at early morning amidst mist and dew, giving life to the scenery, that has scarcely yet been touched by the sun-light.

[Footnote 1: Gallus Lafayetti, _Lesson_.]

[Footnote 2: I apprehend that in the particular of the peculiar cry the Ceylon jungle fowl differs from that of the Dekkan, where _I am told_ that it crows like a bantam c.o.c.k.]

The female of this handsome bird was figured many years ago by Dr. GRAY in his ill.u.s.trations of "_Indian Zoology_," under the name of _G.

Stanleyi_. The c.o.c.k bird subsequently received from LESSON, the name by which the species is now known: but its habitat was not discovered, until a specimen having been forwarded from Ceylon to Calcutta, Dr.

BLYTH recognised it as the long-sought-for male of Dr. Gray's specimen.

Another of the Gallinae of Ceylon, remarkable for the delicate pencillings of its plumage, as well as for the peculiarity of the double spur, from which it has acquired its trivial name, is the _Galloperdix bicalcaratus_, of which a figure is given from a drawing by Mr. Gould.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GALLOPERDIX BICALCARATUS.]

VI. GRALLae.--On reaching the marshy plains and shallow lagoons on either side of the island, the astonishment of the stranger is excited by the endless mult.i.tudes of stilt-birds and waders which stand in long array within the wash of the water, or sweep in vast clouds above it.

Ibises[1], storks[2], egrets, spoonbills[3], herons[4], and the smaller races of sand larks and plovers, are seen busily traversing the wet sand, in search of the red worm which burrows there, or peering with steady eye to watch the motions of the small fry and aquatic insects in the ripple on the sh.o.r.e.

[Footnote 1: Tantalus leucocephalus, and Ibis falcinellus.]

[Footnote 2: The violet-headed Stork (Ciconia leticocephala).]

[Footnote 3: Platalea leucorodia, _Linn._]

[Footnote 4: Ardea cinerea. A. purpurea.]

VII. ANSERES.--Preeminent in size and beauty, the tall _flamingoes_[1], with rose-coloured plumage, line the beach in long files. The Singhalese have been led, from their colour and their military order, to designate them the "_English Soldier birds_." Nothing can be more startling than the sudden flight of these splendid creatures when alarmed; their strong wings beating the air with a sound like distant thunder; and as they soar over head, the flock which appeared almost white but a moment before, is converted into crimson by the sudden display of the red lining of their wings. A peculiarity in the beak of this bird has scarcely attracted the attention it merits, as a striking ill.u.s.tration of creative wisdom in adapting the organs of animals to their local necessities.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLAMINGO.]

[Footnote 1: Phoenicopterus roseus, _Pallas_.]