232 Mr. E. L. Layard's Rambles in Ceylon. 



buggy in tow, joined us; and at 3 a.m. we started in the buggy 

 for Vavonia Vlancolom, with our guns between our knees, and got 

 in before dark, kilhng a jungle-fowl en route. These jungle-fowl 

 {Gallus lineatus) are singularly abundant all "along this road : the 

 female lays from six to twelve eggs, of a pinkish colour, finely mottled 

 with reddish-brown spots, choosing often a decaying stump as her 

 nest ; the young when just hatched resemble young chickens ; the 

 hen leads them to old fallen trees and scratches for white ants, which 

 the young birds eagerly pick up. I have frequently seen three or 

 four broods mingled together, with but one cock among them, who 

 keeps his seraglio very much to himself, often I understand defending 

 his ladies at the expense of his life. He is generally victorious when 

 the tame cock is the aggressor, for his spurs are fearfully sharp, as I 

 can testify by painful experience. I once saw a fight between a tame 

 and a wild cock which terminated most ludicrously ; the owner of the 

 tame bird ran in and requested the loan of my gun to shoot the 

 stranger. I asked him if he could shoot, when he drew himself up 

 with " Sare, I one soldier before :" of course he had the gun directly, 

 and taking a murderous aim from the window, he fired, knocked over 

 his own bird and missed the jungle-fowl. His mortified face I never 

 shall forget, and his soliloquy over the body was almost as fine as 

 Hamlet's. We had however no friendships to regret, so eat the bird 

 for our dinner. 



Our game birds in this country consist of the common jungle-fowl, 

 Gallus lineatus vel Stanleyi, Gray, abundant throughout the country ; 

 Galloperdix ceylonensis vel Tetrao bicalcaratus. Pennant, confined 

 to the southern and central portions of the island, and a most shy and 

 wary bird. I have never seen the eggs of this species, and the 

 natives can give no account of them. Perdix ponticerianus, Gmel., 

 confined to the north of the island, breeding in August and laying 

 from eight to sixteen olive-green eggs, obtuse at one end and sharp 

 at the other ; they make little or no nest, generally selecting a hollow 

 in the bottom of a bush, or a tuft of grass. Perdicula argoondah, 

 Sykes, very rare, the only pair which ever fell under my notice being 

 procured near Cottah, six miles from Colombo. Coturnix chinensis, 

 L., are found abundantly in the grass lands about Galle, Matura, and 

 the Pasdoom Corle. 



Turnix ocellatus. Scop. The rufous variety of this species {Hemi- 

 podius taiffoor of Sykes) is abundant about the southern parts of the 

 island ; the small pale variety common in Bengal, and called T. ben- 

 galensis by Blyth, replacing it in the northern province. It lays 

 three or four roundish eggs of a yellow green colour, mottled with 

 black spots, which grow larger towards the obtuse end, in some in- 

 stances running into each other ; the nest, if nest it can be called, is 

 composed of a few bents of grass dropt into a depression on the 

 ground — often only the foot-print of a bullock. I have found the 

 eggs from February till August, and equally fresh. 



At Vavonia Vlancolom I captured two very minute, and, to me, new 

 bats, certainly not measuring two inches across the wing; unfortunately 

 I put them into one of my carriage lamps and forgot them, and they 

 decayed. I think the native village there is one of the prettiest I ever 



