252 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 34 



ticed grasp of the now exposed bird, with perhaps a bite or scratch 

 or two (if the adult bird is at home) and the family ai^ thrust, 

 without the loss of a feather, into an empty sack. 



It is by this means that the charming little indigenous parrot, 

 Layard's paroquet {Psittacula calthrapae (Layard)) is captured. 

 It is a beautiful forest and hill species, sometimes found about vil- 

 lages and paddy fields, its eggs being laid in a hole high up in a 

 dead coconut palm or other tall tree. Another lovely little parrot, 

 the common Ceylon loriquet {Coryllis heryllinus (Foster) ) is found 

 in almost any low country jungle or native garden. It has a vora- 

 cious appetite and is fond of drinking the toddy from the pots in 

 which it is being collected — a regular avian toper. The eggs, laid 

 in some natural cavity of a tree, are deposited in a nest made of green 

 leaves. 



In two of his 555 reincarnations Buddha was a parrot, an honor 

 that conferred upon the genus the power of speech. The Sinhalese 

 have a number of sayings about this interesting order. For example : 

 "When the cat mews the parrot's 18 languages come to an end." 

 " Though the cage be made of gold, the parrot prefers a roost in 

 the forest." "As ungrateful as a parrot ", who may bite his best 

 friend. " This fellow is like a parrot " — a chatterer or a mere 

 imitator. 



The red-wattled lapwing is to the Sinhalese the type of watchful- 

 ness and faithfulness to its offspring. At all hours, day and night, 

 when its nest is approached it rises with a shrill cry. It is believed 

 by the natives that the eggs, eaten raw, will drive away sleep and 

 induce watchfulness. It is also asserted by them that the lapwing 

 lies on its back in its nest with its legs upward to keep its eggs from 

 being crushed should the sky fall. Jerdon notes the same belief 

 in South India. A Sinhalese proverb saj^s that "truly pious and 

 revered priests are those who observe their religious vows as assidu- 

 ously as the kirala (lapwing) guards her eggs, the samara (deer) 

 his tail, the father his only son, and the man with but one eye the 

 remaining organ." In one of the early Buddhistic manuscripts oc- 

 curs the following : " She who has become pure in mind and body 

 observes on poya days the eight rites and every day the five rites 

 as (faithfully as) the kirala guards her eggs and the samara his 

 tail."— (Nell.) 



The Ceylon crows, both the common gray variety and the jungle 

 crow, are intelligent thieves, the former with a marked predilection 

 for stray golf balls. These birds have many sayings attributed to 

 them by the Sinhalese. The native name, Kakka kaputa, is inter- 

 preted to mean " I eat everybody (everything), but nobody eats me." 

 "A cunning man's look is like that of a crow." " There is no place 



