•254 GAMPOLA .AN'D THE COFFEE REGIOXS. [rART YIL 



and the golden beetles clamber lazil}- over the still damp 

 leaves. 



The earhest bird upon the wing is the crow^, which 

 leaves his perch almost Avith the first peep of dawn, caw- 

 iiig and flopping his wings in the sky. The parroqiiets 

 follow in vast companies, chattering and screaming in 

 exuberant excitement. Xext the cranes and waders, 

 wliicli fly inland to their breeding places at sunset, 

 rise from the branches on which they had passed the 

 night, wa\ing theu" wdngs to disencumber them of the 

 dew; and, stretching theh' awkward legs beliind, they 

 soar away in the direction of the rivers and the far 

 sea-shore. 



The songster that first pours forth his salutation to 

 the morning is the dial-bird [Copsychus saularis), and 

 the yellow oriole, whose mellow flute-hke voice is heard 

 far through the stillness of the dawn. The jungle cock, 

 unseen in the dense cover, shouts his reveille ; not AA-ith 

 the shriU clarion of his European type, but in a rich 

 melodious call, that ascends from the depths of the 

 valley. As hght increases, the grass warbler ^ and may- 

 nah ^ add their notes ; and the bronze-winged pigeons 

 make the woods murmur w^ith their plaintive cry, wdiich 

 resembles the distant lowing of cattle. The swifts and 

 swallows sally forth as soon as there is sufficient warmth 

 to tempt the minor insects abroad ; the bulbul hghts on 

 the forest trees, and the Kttle gem-like sun- birds * (the 

 humming-birds of the East) quiver on their fulgent wings 

 above the opening flowers. 



At length the ferAdd morn approaches, the sun mounts 

 high, and all animated nature begins to peld to the 

 oppression of his beams. The green enamelled di'agon- 

 flies still flash above every pool in pursmt of their tiny 

 prey ; but almost every other winged insect instinc- 

 tively seeks the shade of the foliage. The hawks and 



* Corpus culminatm. I ' Hettprornis crktatclla. 



2 Cisticoki cursitam. \ * Nvctarima Ztyhmk-a. 



