Cl)e Audubon ^ociette^ 



SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Address all communications to the Editor of the School Department. National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, 141 Broadway, New York City 



From Ceylon 



[The following letter from one of the younger members of the National Association 

 from Ceylon will be of great interest to the readers of Bird-Lore. It is especially 

 interesting from the fact that it shows what a bright, observant child can do in the way 

 of field observation. — ^W. D.] 



I Stepped out on the lawn one beautiful morning when I heard a dear little 

 Honeysucker singing in the camelia tree. He seemed very tame. He stood on a 

 limb about six feet above me. In a minute I saw another, and then a third. 

 They flew around in the camelia tree and snatched little insects from the leaves. 

 Then they flew on to the gutter of the bungalow, which was a few feet away. 

 They disappeared down in the gutter, and, in a second, all that one could see 

 was the s{)lashing of water. They sat on the edge and preened their feathers 

 and repeated this for at least a dozen times. The Honeysucker is a smart- 

 looking little bird; male, back olive-green, head chestnut-brown, white ring around 

 eye, throat pale yellow, no wing-bars, bill black, nearly half an inch long; female 

 resembles male, l)ut without yellow, and darker gray on the sides. There arc a 

 great many beautiful birds in Ce\lon, but many of them live at a high altitude. 

 One sees very few birds in Colombo, the chief port of Ceylon. 



Although these birds arc verv brilliant, thc\' are not so line as the Warblers. 

 Finches, etc., in America. A great many small birds on the island are destroyed 

 by a quantity of large birds, such as Hawks, Kagles, and Kestrels. I have taken 

 notes of several birds, but I am not able to give their names, as there is no book 

 I know of on birds, except one (Legge's), which is out of print. One little bird 

 that I caught sight of flew on to a nearby bush. It paused there just long enough 

 for me to see thai his back was dark jjlum-color. nctk black, brea-^t \cllow, 

 belly white. This is another kind of Honeysucker. The Ce\lon Robin is a sym- 

 phony in black and white — somewhat like the Towhee in size and forin, male 

 and female alike — back glossy black, neck black, breast white, also l)flly: two 

 white wing-bars. One sees them more in Colombo. 



The Ceylon Kingfishers are beautiful birds. The back i> a tur(|uoiM--blue, 

 head maroon. I have not seen them verv closelv, as they are generall\ down in the 

 paddy (rice) lieids. They ha\-e beautiful Woodpeckers on the island. They are 

 all bright green, excej)t the head, which is brown and velhnv. One of the very 

 common birds is the Wagtail. They are about tlu' size of the Catbird. They 

 have a way of walking along jerking their tail. Male, back dark gray, breast 

 yellow, wings mixed with white. I'emale, the same, but with white breast. They 



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