io6 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



3000 feet, but rarely above that point. Common in 

 the Western and North-western Provinces. 



Its food consists of snakes, birds, and even rats, 

 one of which I found nearly entire in the stomach of 

 a sjDecimen I secured. 



She. — $ length 2 ft. 2 in. ; span 5 ft. 4 in. ; wing 

 I ft. Z\ in. ; tail i ft. i in. ; tarsus 3! in. 



General colour. — Very dark brown, tinged with 

 shades of a rusty tint ; under parts paler than above ; 

 irides warm brown j feet yellow ; claws black ; bill 

 horny at the tip, bluish at the base ; cere yellow. 



3. The Ceylon Eagle (Sjyilornis bacha) Daudin, 

 Holdsworth. The Crested Serpent Eagle, Legge 

 (Journal Royal Asiatic Society. Ceylon branch, 

 1874). Hcematornis Chccla of Kelaart, who also calls 

 it the Cheela Eagle. " Rajaleea," or " Ookoosar," 

 of the Singalese. " Pranthu " of the Tamils. 



Distribtttion. — Common throughout the whole of 

 the upper hill country, and also in the flat low country 

 of the \Yestern and North- Western provinces. It 

 devours snakes and small reptiles, as well as birds, 

 if obtainable, but it appears to be most partial to 

 snakes. 



It may frequently be found in pairs, and when on 

 the wing it utters its long and mournful note. 



Size. — 2 length 22 in. ; span 46 in. ; wing 15 in. ; 

 tail 10 in. ; tarsus 4 in. 



Colour. — Iris golden ; tarsus and foot yellow ; bill 

 horny at the tip, bluish at the base. 



Note. — I am unable to give further details as to 

 colouring, as at the time I secured the above I was 

 changing quarters, and the skin got lost. 



4. The Kestrel {Tiniiiuiciilus alaudarins) Gmelin, 

 Holdsworth, Kelaart and Legge. Sometimes " Coo- 

 roolar goyar " of the Singalese. " Lavoodoo pran- 

 thu " of the Tamils. 



Distribution. — This kestrel visits the hill country 

 about November, leaving again by about May. 

 Dui-ing the time of its visit it is pretty widely spread 

 from 2000 to 7000 feet above the sea, but never in 

 very large numbers, pairs usually. Other writers say 

 it is found near the sea, as well as inland, but I have 

 never remarked it much below 2000 feet. Food 

 consists of reptiles and vermin, mostly, and even 

 large insects and small birds. 



Size. — (?) Length 13 in. ; span 27 in. ; wing 10 in. ; 

 tail 7 in. ; tarsus 2 in. 5 Length 13 in. ; span 28 in. ; 

 wing 9ioin. ; tail 6% in. ; tarsus 1^5 in. 



General colour.— \A^-\i brownish, inclined to rusty 

 brown, with deep brown triangular spots, on the 

 whole of the back and upper parts generally. Head 

 ashy gray, with darker centrings on the feathers. 

 Breast and sides of the same colour as the back, only 

 of a paler shade, and with blot-like splashings down 

 the middle of each feather, growing smaller towards 

 the vent. Legs nearly cream colour ; tail light 

 grey above, banded with dark brown and margined 



with white. Wing feathers brown on the outside, and 

 pale white below, with triangular white markings on 

 the inner webs ; iris dark Ijrown, bill black at the 

 tip, faint blue at the base ; lower mandible yellowisl> 

 at the base ; orbits and cere yellow ; tarsus and foot 

 orange in some, yellow in others. 



( To be continued.) 



EOTANICAL NOTES FROM THE SWISS 

 HIGHLANDS. 



IV. Mount Pilatus. 



By Dr. De Crespigxy, 



{Continued from f age 87.] 



A THOUSAND feet or so higher than the Rigi^, 

 and far more prolific, both in quantity and 

 variety of alpine plants, is Mount Pilatus, a long 

 serrated ridge with several culminating points of 

 nearly equal altitudes, although its pyramidal form 

 viewed from the town affords no indication that 

 such is the case ; so steep and rugged as to have 

 been till very lately inaccessible to all but the most 

 daring and experienced climbers. At present there 

 are inns on both sides of the ridge, with mule paths 

 leading up to them on either side. A footpath 

 connects tliem. Other paths, carried along the face 

 of the precipice and partly blasted in the rocks, 

 afford safe access to the highest summits. 



The undulating hilly base and lower flanks of the 

 range cover an area of thirty miles in circumference, 

 and are more or less clothed with pine forest, too 

 dark almost for undergrowth, except on the borders 

 and in the clearings, and too gloomy perhaps for 

 animal life. Not a bird is to be seen there, nor the 

 song of any to be heard. Very little original forest 

 is said to be extant on the Alps, and that only on 

 the most inaccessible slopes ; nevertheless, there are 

 few indications, except near the towns, of any 

 planting on a regular plan — its reappearance after 

 having been cleared off is a natural and spontaneous 

 phenomenon. The pine will grow anywhere below 

 a certain elevation on these mountains, spreading 

 its roots over the surface, and flourishing apparently 

 on all but naked rock. In some places there is 

 certainly evidence of conservation — thinning out, 

 cutting, trimming, &c.— proof that the village com- 

 munal system is dying out ; for what was once 

 communal land, forest as well as pasture (an object, 

 therefore, of nobody's concern in particular) is now 

 fast becoming the private property of members 

 who have accumulated capital by innkccping or 

 otherwise, and are fully alive to whatever affects an 

 individual and separate interest. An excursion from 

 Lucerne through these forests over the Hochwald 

 to the Brlindelnalp on the flank of Pilatus— swampy, 

 peaty ground in this direction — and back over the 

 Stoss, Ilergotts, and Schachen forests, will aflbrd 



