CHAP. II.] 



BULBUL. 



169 



the crest on its head, is called by the Singhalese the 

 " Konda Coorola," or Tuft bird, is regarded by the na- 

 tives as the most "game" of all birds; and training it 

 to fight was one of the duties entrusted by the Kings of 

 Kandy to the Kooroowa, or Bird Head-man. For this 

 purpose the Bulbul is taken from the nest as soon as the 

 sex is distinguishable by the tufted crown ; and being 

 secured by a string, is taught to fly from hand to hand 

 of its keeper. """"When pitted against an antagonist, such 

 is the obstinate courage of this little creature that it 

 will sink from exhaustion rather than release its hold. 

 This propensity, and the ordinary character of its notes, 

 render it impossible that the Bulbul of India can be 

 identical with the Bulbul of Iran, the " Bird of a Thou- 

 sand Songs," 1 of which poets say that its delicate 

 passion for the rose gives a plaintive character to its 

 note. 



Tailor-Bird. The Weaver-Bird. The tailor-bird 2 

 having completed her nest, sewing together leaves by 

 passing through them a cotton thread twisted by herself, 

 leaps from branch to branch to testify her happiness 

 by a clear and merry note ; and the Indian weaver 3 , a 

 still more ingenious artist, having woven its pendulous 

 dwelling with grass into a form somewhat resembling 

 a bottle with a prolonged neck, hangs it from a pro- 

 jecting branch with its entrance inverted so as to baffle 

 the approaches of its enemies, the tree snakes and other 

 reptiles. The natives assert that the male bird carries 

 fire flies to the nest, and fastens them to its sides by a 

 particle of soft mud ; and Mr. Layard assures me that 

 although he has never succeeded in finding the fire fly, 



1 " Hazardasitaum" the Persian 

 name for the bulbul. "The Per- 

 sians," accoi-ding to Zakary ben Mo- 

 hamed al Caswini, " say the bulbul 

 has a passion for the rose, and la- 

 ments and cries when he sees it 

 pulled." OUSELEY'S Orietital Collec- 

 tions, vol. i. p. 16. Accordingto Pallas 



it is the true nightingale of Europe, 

 Sylvia lusciuia, which the Armenians 

 call boulboul, and the Grim-Tartars 

 byl-lyl-i. 



2 Orthotomus longicauda, Gmel. 



3 Ploceus baya, Slyth. ; P. Philip- 

 pinus ; Auct. 



