170 



ZOOLOGY. 



[PART II. 



the nest of the male bird (for the female occupies another 

 during incubation) invariably contains a patch of mud on 

 each side of the perch. 



Crows. Of all the Ceylon birds of this order the most 

 familiar and notorious is the small glossy crow, whose 

 shining black plumage shot with blue has obtained for 

 him the title of Corvus splendens. 1 They frequent the 

 towns in companies, and domesticate themselves in the 

 close vicinity of every house ; and it may possibly serve 

 to account for the familiarity and audacity which they 

 exhibit in their intercourse with men, that the Dutch 

 during their sovereignty in Ceylon enforced severe penal- 

 ties against any one killing a crow, under the belief that 

 they are instrumental in extending the growth of cinna- 

 mon by feeding on the fruit, and thus disseminating the 

 undigested seed. 2 



So accustomed are the natives to its presence and ex- 

 ploits, that, like the Greeks and Eomans, they have made 

 the movements of the crow the basis of their auguries ; 

 and there is no end to the vicissitudes of good and evil 

 fortune which may not be predicted from the direction of 

 their flight, the hoarse or mellow notes of their croaking, 

 the variety of trees on which they rest, and the numbers 

 in which they are seen to assemble. All day long they 

 are engaged in watching either the offal of the offices, or 

 the preparation for meals in the dining-room ; and as 

 doors and windows are necessarily opened to relieve the 

 heat, nothing is more common than the passage of crows 

 across the room, lifting on the wing some ill-guarded 

 morsel from the dinner-table. 



No article, however unpromising its quality, pro- 

 vided only it be portable, can with safety be left un- 



1 There is another species, the 

 C. culminatm, so called from the 

 convexity of its bill ; but though 

 seen in the towns, it lives chiefly in 

 the opeii country, and may be con- 

 stantly observed wherever there are 



buffaloes, perched on their backs and 

 engaged, in company with the small 

 Mynah (Acridothcres tristis), in free- 

 ing them from ticks. 



* WOLF'S Life and Adventure*. 

 p. 117. 



