176 ZOOLOGY. [Part 11. 



with a proportionately long neck, so that in feeding in 

 sliallow water the crown of the head becomes inverted 

 and the upper mandible brought into contact with the 

 bottom ; where its flattened surface quahfies it for per- 

 forming the functions of the lower one in bu-ds of the same 

 class ; and the edges of both being laminated, it is thus 

 enabled, like the duck, by the aid of its fleshy tongue, to sift 

 its food before swallowing. 



Floating on the surface of the deeper water, are fleets of 

 the Anatid£e,theCoromandel teaP, the Indian hooded gull ^, 

 the Caspian tern, and a countless variety of ducks and 

 smaller fowl. Pehcans ^ in great numbers resort to the 

 mouths of tlie rivers, taking up their position at sunrise on 

 some projecting rock, from which to dart on the passing 

 fish, and retiu-ning far inland at night to their retreats 

 among the trees which overshadow some ruined water- 

 course or deserted tank. 



Of the buxls famihar to European sportsmen, partridges 

 and quails are to be had at all times ; the woodcock has 

 occasionally been shot in the hills, and tlie ubiquitous 

 snipe, wliich arrives in September from Southern India, is 

 identified not alone by the eccentricity of its flight, but by 

 retaining in high perfection the quahties which have en- 

 deared it to the gastronome at home. But the magnificent 

 pheasants which inhabit the Himalayan range and the 

 woody hills of the Chin-Indian peninsula, have no repre- 

 sentative amongst the tribes that people the woods of Cey- 

 lon ; although a bird believed to be a pheasant has more 

 than once been seen in the jungle, close to Eambodde, on 

 the road to Keuera-elha. 



' Nettapvis Coroman<ielianus,&'/?i(?/. | ^ pgiicanus Pliilipi^ensis, Omel. 

 2 Lariis briuuiiceplialuS; Jerd. 



