382 TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES 



alternately as if taking a deep interest in the conversation. 

 These birds are found in companies, and when seen at a distance 

 near the mouths of rivers advancing towards an observer, it is 

 said that they may be easily mistaken for canoes on the surface 

 of a smooth sea ; and when on the sand-banks, for men and 

 women picking up shell-fish on the beach. 



The tropical forests of the eastern hemisphere resound with 

 bird-cries no less appalling, wild, or strange than those of the 

 western world. In the close jungle of Ceylon one occasionally 

 hears the call of the Copper-smith {Megalasara Indica), whose 

 din resembles the blows of a smith hammering a cauldron, 

 or the strokes of the great orange-coloured Woodpecker (Bra- 

 chypterus aurantius), as it beats the decaying trees in search of 

 insects ; but of all the yells that fancy can imagine there is none 

 to equal that of the Singhalese Devil-bird, or Grualama. "Its 

 ordinary cry," says Mr. Mitford, "is a magnificent clear shout 

 like that of a human being, and which can be heard at a great 

 distance, and has a fine effect in the silence of the closing night. 

 It has another cry like that of a hen just caught, but the sounds 

 which have earned for it its bad name, and which I have heard 

 but once to perfection, are indescribable ; the most appalling 

 that can be imagined, and scarcely to be heard without shud- 

 dering. I can only compare it to a boy in torture, whose 

 screams are being stopped by being strangled. On hearing this 

 dreadful note the terrified Singhalese hurries from the spot, for 

 should he chance to see the bird of ill omen he knows that his 

 death is nigh. A servant of Mr. Baker's,* who had the mis- 

 fortune of seeing the dreaded gualama, from that moment 

 took no food, and thus fell a victim to his superstitious despair. 

 This horror of the natives explains the circumstance that it is 

 not yet perfectly ascertained whether the devil-bird is an owl 

 {Syrnium) or a night hawk. 



As if to make amends for this screech, the robin of Neuera- 

 ellia, the long-tailed thrush, the oriole, the dayal-bird, and 

 some others equally charming, make the forests and savannas 

 of the Kandyan country resound with the rich tones of their 

 musical calls. f 



* Baker's " Eiglit Years' Wanclerings in Ceylon," vol. i. p. 167. 



