Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithology of Ceylon* 99 



of European houses, and in one instance I knew it to enter 

 a verandah. I had wounded a fine adult specimen of the httle 

 common Accipiter badius, and desirous of preserving it ahve, 

 chained it to a post in the deep double verandah of the old 

 Magistracy at Pt. Pedro. This bird had become quite tame, when 

 one morning going into the verandah to speak to a friend who sat 

 there sipping his coffee, I found my favourite in the claws of the 

 Crested eagle. The spoiler fixed his eyes upon me, and merely 

 tried to draw his prey further away, but this the chain prevented. 

 He then raised his crest as if to intimidate us ; I hastened into 

 the house for my gun, my friend still looking on, and when I 

 returned to the verandah the eagle was still there. I aimed at 

 him, but the gun hung fire, and he escaped, but not till he had 

 nearly devoured his own kindred, — a practical refutation of the 

 old saw, that " hawks will not pick out hawks' een." There is a 

 singularly dark variety of this species, which I have only seen at 

 Pt. Pedro, and that but very rarely. 



5. IcTiNAETUS Malaiensis, Rein. 



Dr. Kelaart procured this species at Nuwera Elia, and Mr. 

 Mitford sent me a specimen from Ratnapoora. I subsequently 

 saw it at Gillymally at the foot of Adam's Peak, and if I mistake 

 not, I also observed it on the wing in the " Pasdoom Corle." It 

 is certainly a mountain species, and I should say not uncommon, 

 but I know nothing of its oeconomy. 



6. H^MATORNis Cheela, Lath. Cudoombien, Mai. 



Abundantly and widely distributed throughout the island, 

 this fierce and gloomy tyrant of the woods lies in wait for its 

 prey in the gloaming, scaring the herd-boy from the tank side, 

 or the lonely native threading his way through the jungle, by its 

 doleful raoanings. By many it is considered equally ill-omened 

 with the dreaded Ulama, whose shriek is deemed the precursor 

 of death by the superstitious native. H. Cheela frequents the 

 borders of tanks and morasses, feeding on frogs, snakes, lizards, 

 and occasionally, I suspect, on mud-fish. Concealed in the dark 

 foliage of some overhanging tree, it heedlessly marks the smaller 

 frogs approach the grassy margin of the pool. Suddenly the 

 large green bull-frog {Rana Malabarica) uplifts its head and 

 utters its booming call. The Cheela is now all attention — with 

 outstretched neck it fijces its glaring eyeballs on its desired prey — 

 lower and lower it bends ; for the frog, which has now reached 

 the sedges with a croak of triumph, gains a log. But a shadow 

 glides over him — in vain he crouches — and his colour becomes a 

 dull brown, so closely resembling the log, that human eyes would 



