84 



HAKDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSS I P. 



leaves, so like Termitialia catappa, that I have no 

 doubt of its having been T.j^rocera, as mentioned by 

 Mr. Kurz ; * an Acacia in tolerable abundance, and 

 a Lagerstroemia ; also in the lower and denser forest 

 extending down to the beach, StercuUafcetida and a 

 gigantic Dillenia, which was probably D. pilosa of 

 Roxburgh. I met with no tree-ferns of any kind, 

 and scarcely any palms, excepting a prickly climbing 

 Calamus, which was very common, while the great 

 pendulous lichens, such as I have seen adorning the 

 damp forests of the eastern Himalaya in profuse 

 quantities, were altogether absent. P.ot/ios scandens, 

 however, another characteristic plant of the moist 

 Himalayan woods, was everywhere plentiful and 

 luxuriant. Mangroves abound in some places 

 fringing the shore with their brilliant green foliage 

 and growing upon them. One of my friends found 

 large quantities of Orchidacece^ chiefly species o^ 

 Dendrohium and Pholidota. 



Of birds, we obtained specimens of a beautifu} 

 parrakeet {Palceornis nicobaricus) which seemed 

 very abundant, but generally kept well out of reach 

 of shot in the upper branches of the great trees ; of 

 the peculiar-looking black woodpecker {Muelleri 

 pious Hodgii), and some of the Indian green imperial 

 pigeons {Carpophaga sylvatica). We saw also a good 

 many bulbuls {Otocompsa jocosa) and sunbirds 

 {Nectarinia pectoralis) ; a Pericrocotus, which was 

 most probably P. peregrinus; and a few others 

 which I failed to identify. A small collection, how- 

 ever, made by a brother officer on Mount Harriet, 

 and in the forests stretching downwards to the sea- 

 beach, furnished me with the following species : — 



Palceornis erythrogenys, Myth.; Centropus anda- 

 mane7isis, Tytler ; Macropygia mfipeiwis, Blyth ; 

 Chalcophaps indieus, Linn. ; Osmotreron chloroptera, 

 Blyth ; Pericrocotus peregrinus, Linn. ; Loricuhis 

 vernalis, Sparm.; Irena puella. Lath.; Oriolus 

 andamanensis, Tytler; Merops quinticolor, Viall; 

 Myiagra Tytleri, Beavan ; Alcedo asiatica, Swains. ; 

 Todiramphus collaris. Scop. ; Picus andamanensis, 

 Blyth ; Edolius malaharicus. Scop. 



After a most delightful sojourn of some hours 

 on the summit of the hill, the lengthening shadows 

 warned us to retrace our steps. But before we 

 reached Ross Island the soft obscurity of evening 

 was fast settling down over land and sea. 



G. E. BuLGEE, r.L.S., &c. 



THE JUMPING MOUSE. 



{Jaculus Iludsonius, Wag.) 



npHERE is no one feature of our smaller tracts 

 -*- of woodland that is, to us, at least, more 

 attractive than the lively, timid, jumping mouse. 

 If, happily, we chance to come upon him unawares, 

 and can keep ourselves unseen, we never weary 



• " Report on the Vegetation of the Andaman Islands," 

 p. 37. 



watching his varied, graceful movements, and 

 always laugh when at last we have alarmed him at 

 his hurried bounds, as, with a few kangaroo-like 

 leaps, he hides amid the long grass, or seeks the^ 

 safer precincts of his hidden nest. 



We have an abundance of other mice, both in 

 the forest and on the fields and meadows ; some, 

 beautiful and sprightly, as the white-footed mouse- 

 {Hesperomys leucopus, Wag.) ; others, dull, uninter- 

 esting creatures, as the meadow-mouse {Arvicola- 

 ripnria, Ord.) ; but not even the vivacious Hes- 

 peromys can compare to the little leaping Jaculus. 



Fig. 65. The Jumping Mouse {Jaculus Hudsonius). 



While properly a "wood" mouse, this little 

 animal does not confine himself to shady groves 

 and tangled underbrush, but wanders about the 

 open fields, and not unfrequently contents himself 

 with the scanty shrubbery of our country zigzag 

 fences, in some tangled angle of -which he builds a 

 soft nest of grass. 



Summer gone, and the sharp frosty autuma 

 nights have come, down a foot or more into the 

 ground he burrows, and curled into a little ball, 

 with head, feet, and tail all hidden, soundly to sleep 

 he goes, happily oblivious to all earth's troubling 

 cares, until the genial warmth of the cheery April 

 days rouses him from his lethargic* slumber, and 

 Jaculus " is himself again." 



* Prof. Penney, in "American Naturalist,'' vol. vi. p. 332, 

 says of this mouse, " a colder night than usual seems to 



