MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 861 



" Indian Roller." Coracias garrula {Sic.'] Apparently both the European 

 Holler (C. garndus) and the Indian Roller (C indicus, or more correctly 

 C. benghalensis) breed in Mesopotamia, but the latter species appears to 

 be prevalent south of Bagdad, though the European Roller seems to be the 

 representative species at Bagdad according to Sassi. I have long been 

 puzzled by Mr. Cumming's notes on the Rollers in the Ibis 1886, p. 488, 

 and in the light of the later communication can only suppose that by some 

 mistake the notes on the tvro species have been transposed. 



With regard to the small Bustard shot on two occasions by Mr. Gumming, 

 but not preserved, if noticeably smaller than Honbara u. macqueeni, it was in 

 all probability the Little Bustard, Otis tetra.r, which is known to occur both 

 in Mesopotamia and the Zagros. The Eastern Pintail Sandgrouse (P. alchala 

 candaeuta) breeds in large numbers both in the Tigris and Euphrates 

 valleys as well as near Ahwaz. 



F. C. R. JOURDAIN. 



Appleton Recxory, Abingdon, Berkshire, 

 14^A February 1919. 



No. XXIV.— THE GIANT TORTOISE LIVING IN CEYLON. 



{With a plate.) 



Through the kindness of Mr. W. Ormiston of Kalupandani, HuldummuUe, 

 Ceylon, we are able to reproduce a photograph of a giant tortoise, living 

 at Hirumbard near Galle and which appears to be the same animal Mr. J , 

 Pearson of the Colombo Museum, wrote about in SpoHa Zeylanica Vol, VII, 

 p. 209, 1911. According to that note, this tortoise belongs to the kind 

 known as Testudo gigantea, a species which was formerly indigenous, to the 

 Seychelles, but the history of how this particular one came to Ceylon and 

 how long it has been there is obscure. It appears to have been at Galle 

 since 1846 and Mr. Paul Pieris, C.C.S., wrote to Mr. Pearson that some 

 years ago he was shown by a relation of his some papers, which were eaid 

 to prove that the tortoise was 120 years old. 



As a matter of fact that is not a very great age for one of these giant 

 tortoises and quite recently the home papers reported the death of the old 

 tortoise at the Zoo, which is stated to have been 260 years old. In Lord 

 Rothschild's museum at Tring there is the shell of an example of T. gigantea, 

 which measures 46'- 5" in length and belonged to an animal weighing 

 593 lbs., said to have been 300 years old when it died. 



These large tortoises formerly inhabited the Galapagos islands, Mada- 

 gascar, Aldabare, the Seychelles, &g., but for many years have been 

 extinct in their native haunts, except were especially protected. 

 Some of the islands on which they were indigenous were uninhabited by men, 

 but with the advent of sailing ships from the west the tortoises were 

 doomed, as captains of merchantmen found in them a useful food, which 

 could easily be kept alive and so provide fresh meat for the crews, who 

 in these days w^ere mostly fed on salt junk. The history of these interest- 

 ing animals has been written both by Dr. Gunther and Lord Rothschild, 

 and Dr. Gadow in the volume on " Reptiha " in the Cambridge Natural 

 History gives a short summary of what is known about them. In the 

 Swalik hills in the Punjab the remains of a gigantic tortoise have been 

 found, this animal lived probably in the early Pliocene times and was 

 considerably larger than any of the recent giant tortoises. 



N. B. KINNEAR. 



Bombay Natural History Society, 

 July 1919, 



