458 'Zoological Society :— 



valuable addition to our literature. "We have of course confined 

 our remarks to that department of the work whicli is more imme- 

 diatel}^ devoted to the natural histor}^ of the country ; and yet this 

 is by no means the scope of the book before us. The Singhalese 

 chronicles have been ransacked, Buddhism and Buddhist monuments 

 explored with careful minuteness, population and caste, sciences and 

 the social arts, agriculture and commerce, manufactures and litera- 

 ture, are in turn treated of, and the mediaeval history of Ceylon 

 traced with the hand of a master and an erudition rarely brought 

 to bear upon such a subject. 



The second volume is devoted to the modern history and resources 

 of the country, including a chapter upon Elephants, replete with 

 anecdote, and illustrated, as indeed is the rest of the work, with 

 woodcuts of no ordinary excellence. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Jan. 25, 1859.— -E.W. H. Holdsworth, Esq., F.L.S., in the Chair. 



Notes on the Habits of the Mycteria australis or 

 New Holland Jabiru (Gigantic Crane of the Colo- 

 nists). By George Bennett. 



A short time since, I purchased this rare bird, which was brought 

 alive to Sydney from Port Macquarie, and so little being known 

 respecting its habits, I considered the following notes might be in- 

 teresting to the Society. It appears to be a young male, and walks 

 about the yard of the house quite domesticated, making no attempt 

 to fly, nor showing any inclination to leave its domicile. These 

 birds have a wide range over the colony, more particularly about 

 the northern coasts of Australia, and are seen occasionally within 

 the heads and about the sand-banks of the Clarence and Macleay 

 •Rivers ; they are very difficult of approach, and consequently but 

 i^vi have been obtained, this being the first specimen ever brought 

 alive to Sydney. Among the principal residents in the interior, some 

 inform me that they have only seen four, others only one, during a 

 residence of from twenty-five to thirty years in different parts of the 

 colony. In Leichliardt's Expedition (according to the account of 

 Mr. Murphy, now residing in Sydney) only two were seen ; and these 

 could not be approached sufficiently near to be shot. In 1839 a 

 specimen was shot on Hunter's River, and another on the north 

 shore near Sydney about three years since, both of which were pre- 

 sented to the Australian Museum. The person who shot the last 

 bird had the greatest difficulty in procuring it, from its being so very 

 shy and watchful : he was obliged to follow it for several days in 

 its haunts about the salt-water creeks, untd he could get sufficiently 

 near to shoot it, which, being a good marksman, he achieved as soon 

 as he could approach within range. Both these specimens were full- 



