MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 533 



specimens, three of C. cineraceus and four of C. macrurus. When it was nearly 

 dark all the hawks settled in the swamp, which was covered with low thick 

 grass and about five acres in extent. 



On going into the swamp we found that each bird had a regular " form " very 

 similar to that made by a covey of partridge where they pass the night. 

 A boy who had been an inmate of the " Happy Valley Home " (a school and 

 reformatory established by the Wesleyan Mission) which used to be close by 

 assured us that the hawks had been in the habit of passing the night in this 

 particular swamp for years ; and that the boys used to catch them with dogs on 

 moonlight night's ; rather a poor game for the dogs one would think ! It may 

 be a coincidence, it is most certainly a fact, that when the camp was inhabited 

 and the swamp drained, these birds became scarce. 



Before the camp was built, any one on these " palnas " could hardly look 

 round without seeing a harrier quartering the ground methodically as it sailed 

 gracefully along, and I have not observed more than could be counted on the 

 fingers of one hand in the last two N.-E. monsoons. 



This fact is the more strange, as there are literally hundreds of lonely swamps 

 in the "palnas" between Badulla, Attampettia and Bandarawela. 



As a matter of fact the very swamp chosen by the birds must have been 

 often shot over, though I presume the hawks escaped observation owing to the 

 fact of their only coming in at nightfall. 



There were no examples of the (in Ceylon) rare Pied Harrier {Circus mela~ 

 noleucus) with the other two species, although I have occasionally seen one in 

 the striking mature plumage gliding along out of shot. 



It is curious how deceptive a harrier's flight is. I once saw one chasing a snipe, 

 not swooping but " raking" after it ; the snipe after vain endeavours to escape 

 by speed had to seek refuge in some scrub. 



F. SIKE3. 



Badulla, Ceylon, 

 21 st December 1903. 



