Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^-c. 419 



birds were scarce. I frequently heard the Crow-Pheasant {Cen- 

 tropus rufipennis), and the loud metallic sound {Ka-tock) of the 

 Coppersmith {Meffalcema, sp.). Corvus splendens was abundant 

 about towns ; C. culminatus about detached huts. At Galle, in 

 the evening, large parties of a species of Merops would be seen at 

 sunset, hawking about at some height in the air after flies, much 

 as LibellulcB (Dragon-flies) usually do. Kandy is so cleared — 

 in most places right to the top of the hills — for the plantation of 

 the coffee-plant, that it is difficult to find a bit of primitive 

 jungle. I climbed to a small patch of forest on the top of a hill 

 5000 feet above the sea-level. A pair of Jungle-fowl, with a 

 peculiar Pheasant-like cry, flapped heavily across the brake, from 

 one copse to another. The jungle in this exposed situation con- 

 sisted of poor stunted trees and scattered underwood, damp 

 everywhere underfoot, the ground being composed of layers 

 of saturated dead leaves; pools of water frequently occurred 

 right in one's beaten path, from which there was seldom any 

 deviating. The silence was broken occasionally by the rustling 

 of the branches, or the shrieking cry of some noisy bird. A chilly 

 feeling crept over me, and caused me to shudder involuntarily. I 

 found two species of orchids on the trunks of trees. I did not see 

 any monkeys ; but frequent marks of them occurred in the shape 

 of small parcels of cofi*ee-beans, which lay about on the stones and 

 fallen timber. The monkeys come down to the plantations in 

 small troops ; and, filling their pouches with the cofi^ee-cherries, 

 run up- again to the hills, where they squat on prominent places, 

 and drop the seeds, while they eat the pulp. 



A curious instance of plant-usurpation occurs on a large scale 

 at Ceylon. A small bushy plant, with small clusters of orange 

 flowers, called the Lantana mixta, was introduced into the 

 country about eleven years ago from Brazil. It has run wild, 

 and lines for miles the roadsides in thick hedges, occurring also 

 up the highest hills. Wherever it goes, it seems to paralyse the 

 plant-life. In Penang and Singapore I also noted it very fre- 

 quently. In Ceylon and the two other colonies the Australian 

 Pine {Casuarina equisetifolia) has also been naturalized, forming 

 a very conspicuous and beautiful object in gardens. It is fre- 

 quently covered with several species of ferns. About the 



