Part 19 (1/2)

[Footnote 1: Spizaetus limnaetus, _Horsf_.]

[Footnote 2: Haematornis cheela, _Daud_.]

[Footnote 3: Pontoaetus 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 superst.i.tious 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 Anaraj.a.poora, where it is trained for hawking, it is usual, in lieu of a hood, to darken its eyes by means of a silken thread pa.s.sed through holes in the eyelids. The ign.o.ble birds of prey, the Kites[4], keep close by the sh.o.r.e, 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 their 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.”[l] The Singhalese regard it literally with horror, and its scream by night in the vicinity of a village is bewailed as the harbinger of approaching calamity.

[Footnote 1: Syrnium indranee, _Sykes_. The horror of this nocturnal scream was equally prevalent in the West as in the East. Ovid Introduces it in his _Fasti_, L. vi. 1. 139; and Tibullus in his Elegies, L.i. El 5. Statius says--

”Nocturnae-que gemunt striges, et feralia bubo _Danna canens_.” Theb. iii. I. 511.

But Pliny, 1. 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 am 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. Pa.s.sERES. _Swallows_.--Within thirty-five miles of Caltura, on the western coast, are inland caves, the resort of the Esculent Swift[1], which 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 royalty from the government, and make an annual export of their 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 algae.[2] In the nests brought to me there was no trace of organisation; and whatever may be the original material, it is so elaborated by the swallow as to present somewhat the appearance and consistency of strings of isingla.s.s. The quant.i.ty 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, etc.]

_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 sits upon an overhanging branch, his turquoise plumage hardly less intense in its l.u.s.tre than the deep blue of the sky above him; and so intent is his watch upon the pa.s.sing fish that intrusion fails to scare him from his post; the emblem of vigilance and patience.

_Sun Birds_.--In the gardens the Sun Birds[1] (known as the Humming Birds of Ceylon) hover all day long, attracted by the plants over which they hang, poised on their glittering wings, and inserting their curved beaks to extract the tiny insects that nestle in the flowers. Perhaps the most graceful of the birds of Ceylon in form and motions, and the most chaste in colouring, is that which Europeans call ”the Bird of Paradise,”[2] and the 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: Nectarina Zeylanica, _Linn_.]

[Footnote 2: Tchitrea paradisi, _Linn_.]

_The Bulbul_.--The _Condatchee Bulbul_[1], which, from the crest on its head, is called by the Singhalese the ”Konda Coorola,” or _Tuft bird_, is regarded by the natives as the most ”_game_” of all birds; and the training it to fight was one of the duties entrusted by the Kings of Kandy to the Kooroowa, or Bird Head-man. For this purpose the Bulbul is taken from the nest as soon as the s.e.x is distinguishable by the tufted crown; and being 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 can 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.