INDIA. 



71 



locks ; the height of some being said to be five feet, and 

 the length in proportion. Parties of pleasure on the 

 isle* at the mouth* of the Ganges have often been shock- 

 ingly interrupted by the sudden appearance of the ti- 

 ger, prepared for hi* fatal spring, which is said to 

 extend to a hundred feet ; not improbable, when com- 

 pared with that of the cat. Such is the nature of the 

 animal, that if disappointed in his first leap, he couches 

 his tail and retire*. 



In the northern district of Coimbetoor, there are a 

 great number of black bears, which, however, are very 

 offensive, living chiefly on the white ants, and the 

 fruit of the palmyra. Near Chittagong there is a species 

 of bear which is called there the wild dog. " His head 

 is shaped like that of a dog, but bare and red about the 

 muzzle ; bis paws are like those of the common bear, 

 but his coat u short and smooth." Graham's Journal, 

 p. 143. This animal is very ferocious, and will not eat 

 any kind of vegetable food. The one-horned rhinoce- 

 ros is not uncommon in the islands of the Ganges. An- 

 telopes, especially that specie* called the Nylgau, are 

 naessTOus, and of a large size ; the hunting of them by 

 the leopard, is a favourite sport among the Indian prin- 

 ces. Tippoo was very fond of it. Apes and monkies 

 are common ; and it u said, but not on very good au- 

 thority, that the onrang-ouUng exists in the forests to 

 the wast of the northern Circars. The other quadru- 

 peds are dogs, of the cur kind, with sharp, erect oars, 

 and pointed nose* ; boars, wolves, foxes, jackal U, hyav 

 na*, panthers, lynxes, &c. The moschus, moschifcrut, 



lie on the north of Hindostan; but the musk that is 

 brought from Bengal is of an interior kind to that which 

 come* from China. 



The birds of India are very various, and some of 

 iL This is the nativ* 



l every part, in a 

 and produce a greater 

 India they are in their 

 or 30 eg** in the 

 and in 



of eggs; proof* that in 

 slisaitr They lay 20 

 of the year. Near Casnbay, 

 ports of the provmce of Malabar, they 

 ui.ilmit At the fir* 



are caught in a very simple and singular 

 A piece of canvass, on which are painted the figures of 

 ptwftthf. and to which are attached two lighted candles^ 

 laring the night, to the tree on which she* 

 are perched ; snd the birds, being either deceived by 

 the figures, or douled by the light, stretch out their 

 necks too aid* the canvas*, and era caught in a noose 



MM fj A ^*A*1 f K I 'I Kt Mwl ^HrVMVA* *.| 



ttmtobe kilted 



tie*. 



There arc few birds, native* of India, so remarkable, 

 and which ho* tinted so strongly the attention of na. 

 luralist*. es the gross-beak, ( Lone MKpainm.) the olo. 

 man of the Malabar.. It is described in the yfcscfa; Re- 

 jtortV*, by Har Ali Khan of Delhi, as < rather larger 

 than a narrow, with yd low brawn plumage, a yellow. 

 ishhe^d and feet, and light coloured breast, and a con i. 

 cal beak, wry thick in proportion to its body." They 

 chiefly frequent the cocoa-nut trees, or the palmyra and 

 Indian fig, being evidently partial to a lofty site for its 

 oat" Tim bird conHrncts its nest in a very curious 

 way. with the long fibres of plant* or dry grsss, and 

 suspend* it by means of a kind of cord nearly naif an ell 

 in Ungth,' from 'the extremity of an extremely skoder 

 branch of the tree, in order that it may be in.iccesibl>- 1<> 



snakes and other animals, which might destroy its eggs SutUiir-. 

 or its young. This iianging nest, though agitated by -~'"Y""~* 

 the wind, U so strongly secured, that it never sufier- '.in- 

 least injury. The interior part of it coii-ists of three 

 neat apartments or divisions. The first, which forms tin- 

 fore part, is occupied by the male j the second U desti- 

 ned for the female ; and the third contains the young. 

 In the first apartment, where the male always keeps 

 watch, while the female is hatching the eggs, a little 

 tongh clay is always found stuck against one side of it ; 

 and in the top of this clay is a glow-worm. Bartolo- 

 meo, from whom this account is taken, thinks that the 

 glow-worm serves to afford light in the night time ; but 

 it seems much more probable that the bird feeds on 

 these insect*. Thi* bird is much valued in Hindostan 

 for its docility, and attachment to those who domestic.ttr 

 it. The common fowl i* found in the jungles, and i- 

 called the jungle bird ; and the wild cock, the feather- 

 of which are of various colours, and shine like gold, i> 

 found in the Ghauts and the adjacent forests. The 

 Pelicanut onockroialui, or large Asiatic pelican, is found 

 in Malabar. This province U also the native country 

 of what are called the Malabar bat, t'ttperltli-i vampy- 

 rut, or canmus, and which seem to differ from the v,un - 

 pyre bat of Surinam. The (iracula religiota, which are 

 cwBr""" in the districts adjoining the Ghauts, is a bird 

 held in considerable esteem by the natives on account 

 of its song; its body u quite black, and it* head is co- 

 vered with a hood of a bright yellow colour. This bird 

 is called Mina by the natives, and is often seen with 

 the kokola and other birds of song, together with a bird 

 a* small as the. hummingbird, which Axes its nest to 

 the pointed tips of the palmyra, to secure its young 

 from the tree snake, in the gardens in the vicinity of 

 Bombay and other towns. The Eigrus, the largest of 

 aquatic birds, is found among the lakes in the north of 

 rhndostsn Proper, when it u kept by the natives in 

 their gardens, for the purpose of picking up the vermin. 

 Parrot* of almost all the varieties with respect to size 

 and colour, abound in Hindostan. 



Snakes abound : the coluber naia, cobra de capello, snakes, *<-. 

 the moat poisonous of all the species, U one of the 

 in Malabar, where there i* also a snake 

 resembling, in the rings round its body, the coluber na. 

 trix of Europe, but much smaller, and very poisonous. 

 The mountain snake of the Ghauts seem* to resemble 

 the boa constrictor, as it is represented by Bartolomeo, 

 a* being from 90 to 40 feet long, and a* thick a* a fed 

 ox, ana as devouring hogs, deer, cow*, snd other ani- 

 mals, which it seize* by twisting itself round thru 

 bodies. Mrs. Graham mentions the same kind of snskr 

 as amo*ooj in the vicinity of Bombay, where the cobra 

 do aaaalls. and the cobra manilla, and a small bright 

 speckled snake, and, in short, snakes of all size*, are 

 constantly gliding about. 



The insects are also very numerous, and in great va- 

 riety in all parts of India. The terroes fatale, or white 

 ant, which is particularly noticed by Herodotus and 

 Arrian, is very destructive to furniture, cloaths, &c. ; 

 they era eagerly devoured by the Chansu Carir, a 

 wretched ana deserted caste in the Carnatic. The me- 

 loe Uianthema i* found in great quantities in the 

 Paoh. and in that track which stretches along the 

 right bank of the river Jumnah ; it seem* to feed on the 

 SOMBWSS anifaayaa, and makes its appearance at the 

 umuwsiii i ianl of the rainy season. The meloe cicorei 

 is principally found in Bengal, Berar, and Oude ; it 

 subsists on the flowers of the cucurbitacceus plants, and 

 also oo those of the hibiscus and tida species : it i* most 

 abundant during the rainy seasons. Both these p*OJM 



