Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithoiogy of Ceylon. 451 



welly, not far from Colombo, intermediate in fact between it and 

 Avishavelly, and three more in the dense jungle near Pallabad- 

 doola, at the foot of the Peak. These are the only specimens 

 hitherto procured of this bird. Dr. Kelaart does not appear to 

 have seen it, and none have been received among Mr. Thwaites's 

 collections. It is then doubtless confined to the particular locality 

 where I obtained it, and is there anything but common. It has 

 the same habits as C. Philippensis, and the same call and cat- 

 like mewing note. Irides red, as in the former. 



193. OXYLOPHUS MELANOLEUCOS, Gmel. 



Abundant in open plains dotted with low bushes from Ham- 

 bantotte to Jaffna. It sits upon the tops of the Euphorbia trees 

 and utters a chattering cry. 



Shooting one morning in the vicinity of Pt. Pedro, I observed a 

 pair of Mud birds {Malacocercus Benffalensis), -which, hovered about 

 an isolated bush ^Yith all the solicitude of parent birds attending 

 upon a nest of young ones ; when I drew near they flew before 

 me, feigning lameness, and endeavoured to draw off my attention 

 from some object in the bush ; this I soon found was a young 

 Oxylophus, which I captured, the Mud birds meanwhile flying 

 about my head, uttering the most unmistakeable cries of distress. 

 I found no other young bird or nest in the bush, which was a 

 small one, and am convinced that these were foster parents to 

 the young cuckoo. 



194. Oxylophus Coromandus, Linn. 



One of our rarest species, only a few specimens falling under 

 my notice during my residence iu the island. One I killed in 

 Jaffna, another near Colombo, and the last near Ratnapoora. 



195. EuDYNAMYS ORiEXTALis, Linn. Coosil and Coel, Mai. 

 Coha and Cowde-coha, Cing. 



Wherever crows are found there the " Coel " is found also, 

 depositing a single egg in the unguarded nest of either Corvus 

 splendens or C. culminatus, indiscriminately. 



The egg thus surreptitiously fathered upon the unsuspicious 

 foster parents is of a palish neutral green colour, mottled very 

 thickly with dark blotches. Axis 1 in. 3 lines ; diam. 1 inch. It 

 is laid in the month of February and hatched about March. 

 AVhen the young are hatched, they appear (according to native 

 testimony) to eject the young crows in a manner similar to that 

 by which the European cuckoo gets rid of its hapless brethren. 

 Crows seem to have a great antipathy to these birds, and pursue 



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