Part 20 (1/2)
_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]