Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/taprobanian1887/0131
October, 1887.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
131
kavi-kara maduwe raja-karaya, “royal service of the
minstrel department.” They greatly admired my
old instrument, and said it must have been used by
members of the royal family, similar ones being
made for the people from tin, bronze, and buffalo
horn.
They themselves use silver instruments, the pro-
perty of the Dala-da shrine, and of the Maha Vishnu
temple, made (as shown by the inscribed date) in
Saka 1752 Q\.D. 1830), to replace others lost in the
preceding period of political confusion. They are
similar to mine, but of silver, and have seven sets of
cymbals instead of five.
The custom is to toss these in the air, catching
them to the tune and time of drums, and sometimes
of songs. As the tune proceeds, they are tossed in
the air from one to other of the performers, in such
a method that the clinking of the cymbals keeps per-
fect accompaniment to the music.
Editor.
Ornithological Notes (Ceylon).
Attagen minor, Gm.—Colonel Legge has given this
bird, but then he has doubtfully excluded A. aquila,
L. in his “Birds of Ceylon.” So far as my obser-
vations go, and they are limited, A. minor is far
rarer than A. aquila on the coast of Ceylon. The only
preserved specimen of A. minor I have seen, is that
in the Colombo Museum, shot by J. E. Smart,
C.C. S., at Jaffna, and I may have seen half a dozen
or so on the wing.
Attagen aquila, L.—The Colombo Museum has an
adult of this species, shot at Pantura, and I obtained
an immature male at Balapitiya. I have frequently
seen it on the west coast of Ceylon and once at
Batticaloa.
Goturnix coromandelica, Gm.—For the addition
of this species to our avifauna we have to thank
Mr. Haly, Director of the Colombo Museum. He
has obtained specimens on several occasions, the first
being a male, January 1883, followed by two
females in July 1883. I had a female of this
species, said to have been shot in Dumbara, near
Kandy, and purchased by me from a local taxidermist
in 1875, but I viewed it with suspicion. Further
observations are now much needed to show whether
this quail is a recent introduction to Ceylon, whether
by a chance migration or otherwise, or a regular
resident hitherto overlooked. Mr. Haly’s specimens
were shot at Colombo.
Falco severus, Horsf., the Indian hobby.—This
little falcon is so very rarely seen in Ceylon that it
is well to put on record a very fine male, shot on
Dotala Estate, Maskeliya, in the valleys west of
Adam’s Peak on 28th November 1886, and sent by
A. Taylor, Esq., to Jacobs (a taxidermist in Kandy)
for preservation. Mr. Taylor had made a phenominal
shot -with a pea rifle and killed this bird, which he
sent to be preserved as a memento of the exploit.
On learning from me its rarity, he generously
presented it to the Colombo Museum.
Halcyon atricapillus.—A bird of this species was
described to me by two friends, who met with it
on the Batticaloa Lagoon in 1886, but failed to kill
it. I never saw the bird there, but I several times
saw small heaps of debris of crabs beneath projecting
branches of the mangroves on the shore, which I
supposed indicated the presence of this species.
The Colombo Museum has received a fine speci-
men, also said to have been shot at Batticaloa, and
presented by W. Wright, Esq.
Nisaetus pennatus, Gm.—The booted eagle.—In
addition to the female presented by Mr. Macvicar
to the Colombo Museum and shot in 1876, as re-
corded by Legge, that institution has a fine male,
in immature plumage, obtained in 1879.
Cuculus poliocephalus, Lath.—The lesser cuckoo.—
Colonel Legge notices this species as hitherto only
met with in the Jaffna peninsula and about Colombo.
He, however, further states as follows
“In Java Mr. Wallace procured it, his specimens
being, according to Blyth, similar to those from ‘ the
Himalayas and the Nilghiris,’ and, he adds, ‘ from the
mountains of Ceylon.’ It is not clear how he identi-
fies it from the latter locality, for, according to my
knowledge, it does not affect the hill-region at all.”
I have, however, obtained it among the Kandian
hills, and in September 1886 a fine adult was given
to me by G. Gordon-Cumming, Esq., picked up by
him beneath the telegraph wire near Kandy.
Guculus maculatus, Gm.—The Indian emerald
cuckoo.—This species rests in our list on the authority
of a specimen sent from Ceylon by Governor Loten,
and figured by Brown, Ill. Ind. Zool., pl. 13. It has
not since been recorded from Ceylon. When I first
arrived in Ceylon, in 1866, I saw an emerald cuckoo
near Bane, in the south-east of Ceylon. I watched
it for some time, not aware of its rarity, and was
about to shoot it, when it dipped out of sight in the
bush and doubtless flew out on the other side. Not
accustomed to this habit of the cuckoos, I was quite
puzzled by the disappearance of the bird. It
does not seem to me possible that I could have
mistaken any known Ceylon bird for this cuckoo,
its size, its beak, its colour, distinguishing it at once.
The entry in my note-book mentions a conspicuous
yellow bill, whereas Legge quotes bill yellow at the
base with the terminal portion brown. This, however,
may easily be reconciled, as the bill may appear
more yellow while the bird lives. The cuckoo I
saw was in brilliant green plumage, and therefore
adult.
From Bane on the south to Sangaman Kanda on
the east coast, there is an isolated tract of low land
with several characteristic and abundant plants not
found, or not common, elsewhere in Ceylon. As this
NOTES AND QUERIES.
131
kavi-kara maduwe raja-karaya, “royal service of the
minstrel department.” They greatly admired my
old instrument, and said it must have been used by
members of the royal family, similar ones being
made for the people from tin, bronze, and buffalo
horn.
They themselves use silver instruments, the pro-
perty of the Dala-da shrine, and of the Maha Vishnu
temple, made (as shown by the inscribed date) in
Saka 1752 Q\.D. 1830), to replace others lost in the
preceding period of political confusion. They are
similar to mine, but of silver, and have seven sets of
cymbals instead of five.
The custom is to toss these in the air, catching
them to the tune and time of drums, and sometimes
of songs. As the tune proceeds, they are tossed in
the air from one to other of the performers, in such
a method that the clinking of the cymbals keeps per-
fect accompaniment to the music.
Editor.
Ornithological Notes (Ceylon).
Attagen minor, Gm.—Colonel Legge has given this
bird, but then he has doubtfully excluded A. aquila,
L. in his “Birds of Ceylon.” So far as my obser-
vations go, and they are limited, A. minor is far
rarer than A. aquila on the coast of Ceylon. The only
preserved specimen of A. minor I have seen, is that
in the Colombo Museum, shot by J. E. Smart,
C.C. S., at Jaffna, and I may have seen half a dozen
or so on the wing.
Attagen aquila, L.—The Colombo Museum has an
adult of this species, shot at Pantura, and I obtained
an immature male at Balapitiya. I have frequently
seen it on the west coast of Ceylon and once at
Batticaloa.
Goturnix coromandelica, Gm.—For the addition
of this species to our avifauna we have to thank
Mr. Haly, Director of the Colombo Museum. He
has obtained specimens on several occasions, the first
being a male, January 1883, followed by two
females in July 1883. I had a female of this
species, said to have been shot in Dumbara, near
Kandy, and purchased by me from a local taxidermist
in 1875, but I viewed it with suspicion. Further
observations are now much needed to show whether
this quail is a recent introduction to Ceylon, whether
by a chance migration or otherwise, or a regular
resident hitherto overlooked. Mr. Haly’s specimens
were shot at Colombo.
Falco severus, Horsf., the Indian hobby.—This
little falcon is so very rarely seen in Ceylon that it
is well to put on record a very fine male, shot on
Dotala Estate, Maskeliya, in the valleys west of
Adam’s Peak on 28th November 1886, and sent by
A. Taylor, Esq., to Jacobs (a taxidermist in Kandy)
for preservation. Mr. Taylor had made a phenominal
shot -with a pea rifle and killed this bird, which he
sent to be preserved as a memento of the exploit.
On learning from me its rarity, he generously
presented it to the Colombo Museum.
Halcyon atricapillus.—A bird of this species was
described to me by two friends, who met with it
on the Batticaloa Lagoon in 1886, but failed to kill
it. I never saw the bird there, but I several times
saw small heaps of debris of crabs beneath projecting
branches of the mangroves on the shore, which I
supposed indicated the presence of this species.
The Colombo Museum has received a fine speci-
men, also said to have been shot at Batticaloa, and
presented by W. Wright, Esq.
Nisaetus pennatus, Gm.—The booted eagle.—In
addition to the female presented by Mr. Macvicar
to the Colombo Museum and shot in 1876, as re-
corded by Legge, that institution has a fine male,
in immature plumage, obtained in 1879.
Cuculus poliocephalus, Lath.—The lesser cuckoo.—
Colonel Legge notices this species as hitherto only
met with in the Jaffna peninsula and about Colombo.
He, however, further states as follows
“In Java Mr. Wallace procured it, his specimens
being, according to Blyth, similar to those from ‘ the
Himalayas and the Nilghiris,’ and, he adds, ‘ from the
mountains of Ceylon.’ It is not clear how he identi-
fies it from the latter locality, for, according to my
knowledge, it does not affect the hill-region at all.”
I have, however, obtained it among the Kandian
hills, and in September 1886 a fine adult was given
to me by G. Gordon-Cumming, Esq., picked up by
him beneath the telegraph wire near Kandy.
Guculus maculatus, Gm.—The Indian emerald
cuckoo.—This species rests in our list on the authority
of a specimen sent from Ceylon by Governor Loten,
and figured by Brown, Ill. Ind. Zool., pl. 13. It has
not since been recorded from Ceylon. When I first
arrived in Ceylon, in 1866, I saw an emerald cuckoo
near Bane, in the south-east of Ceylon. I watched
it for some time, not aware of its rarity, and was
about to shoot it, when it dipped out of sight in the
bush and doubtless flew out on the other side. Not
accustomed to this habit of the cuckoos, I was quite
puzzled by the disappearance of the bird. It
does not seem to me possible that I could have
mistaken any known Ceylon bird for this cuckoo,
its size, its beak, its colour, distinguishing it at once.
The entry in my note-book mentions a conspicuous
yellow bill, whereas Legge quotes bill yellow at the
base with the terminal portion brown. This, however,
may easily be reconciled, as the bill may appear
more yellow while the bird lives. The cuckoo I
saw was in brilliant green plumage, and therefore
adult.
From Bane on the south to Sangaman Kanda on
the east coast, there is an isolated tract of low land
with several characteristic and abundant plants not
found, or not common, elsewhere in Ceylon. As this