163 ZOOLOGY. [PAST II. 



standing the power of wing possessed by these birds, adds 

 something to the difficulty of believing that it consists of 

 glutinous algas. 1 In the nests brought to me there was 

 no trace of organisation ; and the original material, what- 

 ever it be, is so elaborated by the swallow as to pre- 

 sent somewhat the appearance and consistency of strings 

 of isinglass. The quantity of these nests exported from 

 Ceylon is trifling. 



Kingfishers, In solitary places, where no sound breaks 

 the silence except the gurgle of the river as it sweeps 

 round the rocks, the lonely Kingfisher, the emblem of 

 vigilance and patience, sits upon an over-hanging branch, 

 his turquoise plumage hardly less intense in its lustre 

 than the deep blue of the sky above him ; and so intent 

 is his watch upon the passing fish that intrusion fails to 

 scare him from his post. 



Sun Birds. In the gardens the tiny Sun Birds 2 (known 

 as the Humming Birds of Ceylon) hover all day long, 

 attracted by the plants over which they hang, poised 

 on their glittering wings, and inserting their curved beaks 

 to extract the insects that nestle in the flowers. 



Perhaps the most graceful of the birds of Ceylon in 

 form and motions, and the most chaste in colouring, is the 

 one which Europeans call "the Bird of Paradise," 3 and 

 natives " the Cotton Thief," from the circumstance that 

 its tail consists of two long white feathers, which stream 

 behind it as it flies. Mr. Layard says : " I have often 

 watched them, when seeking their insect prey, turn 

 suddenly on their perch and whisk their long tails 

 with a jerk over the bough, as if to protect them from 

 injury." 



The BulbulThQ Condatchee Bidbul*, which, from 



1 An epitome of what has been 

 written on this subject will be found 

 in Dr. Horsfield's Catalogue of the 

 Birds in the E. I. Comp. Museum, 

 vol. i. p. 101, &c. 



Nectarina Zeylanica, Linn. 

 Tchitrea paradisi, Linn. 

 Pyenouotus hscmorrhous, Gmel. 



