172 



ZOOLOGY. 



[Part II. 



the water over tlieir shining backs, and arranging their 

 plumage decorously, after which they disperse, each 

 taking the direction of his accustomed quarters for the 

 night. ^ 



During the storms which usher in the monsoon, it has 

 been observed, that when coco-nut palms are struck by 

 Hghtning, the destruction frequently extends beyond 

 a single tree, and from the contiguity and conduction 

 of the spreading leaves, or some other pecuhar cause, 

 large groups will be affected by a single flash, a few 

 killed instantly, and the rest doomed to rapid decay. In 

 Belligam Bay, a httle to the east of Point-de-Galle, a 

 small island, which is covered with coco-nuts, has acquired 

 the name of " Crow Island, " from being the resort of 

 those birds, wliich are seen hastening towards it in 

 thousands towards sunset. A few years ago, during a 

 violent storm of thunder, such was the destruction of 

 the crows that the beach for some distance was covered 

 with a black line of their remains, and the grove on which 

 they had been resting was to a great extent destroyed by 

 the same flash.^ 



III. ScANSOEES. Parroquets. — Of the Psittacidse the 

 only examples are the parroquets, of which the most re- 

 nowned is the Palceornis Alexandria wliich has the historic 

 distinction of bearing the name of the great conquerer 

 of India, having been the first of its race introduced to 

 the knowledge of Europe on the return of his expedition. 

 An idea of then- number may be formed from the fol- 

 lowing statement of Mr. Layard, as to the multitudes 

 which are found on the western coast. " At Chilaw I 

 have seen such vast flights of parroquets coming to roost 



^ A similar habit has been noticed 

 in the damask Parrots of Africa 

 (^Palcpoi-nis fusciis), which daily resort 

 at the same hour to their accustomed 

 water to bathe. 



^ Similar instances are recorded in 

 other coimtries of sudden mortality 

 amongst crows to a prodigious ex- 

 tent, but whether occasioned by 



lightning seems imcertain. In 1839 

 thirty-three thousand dead crows 

 were found on the shores of a lake 

 in the county Westmeath in Ireland 

 after a storm. — Thompson's Nat. 

 Ilisf. Ireland, vol. i. p. 319, and Pat- 

 terson in his Zoology, p, 356, men- 

 tions other cases. 



