172 



ZOOLOGY. 



[PART II. 



bath, tossing the water over their shining backs, and 

 arranging their plumage decorously, after which they 

 disperse, each taking the direction of his accustomed 

 quarters for the night. 1 



During the storms that usher in the monsoon, it has 

 been observed, that when coco-nut palms are struck by 

 lightning, the destruction frequently extends beyond 

 a single tree, and from the contiguity and conduction 

 of the spreading leaves, or some similar cause, large 

 groves will be affected by a single flash, a few killed 

 instantly, and the rest doomed to rapid decay. In 

 BeUigam Bay, a little to the east of Point-de-Galle, a 

 small island, which is covered with coco-nuts, has acquired 

 the name of " Crow Island," from being the resort of 

 those birds, which are seen hastening towards it in 

 thousands towards sunset. A few years ago, during a 

 violent storm of thunder, such was the destruction of 

 the crows that the beach for some distance was covered 

 with a black line of their remains, and the trees on which 

 they had been resting was to a great extent destroyed by 

 the same flash. 2 



III. SCANSORES. Parroquets. Of the Psittacidas the only 

 examples in Ceylon are the parroquets, of which the most 

 renowned is the Palceornis Alexandri, which has the his- 

 toric distinction of bearing the name of the great conqueror 

 of India, having been the first of its race introduced to 

 the knowledge of Europe on the return of his expedition. 

 An idea of their number may be formed from the fol- 

 lowing statement of Mr. Layard, as to the multitudes 

 which are found on the western coast. " At Chilaw I 

 have seen such vast flights of parroquets coming to roost 



1 A similar habit has been noticed 

 in the damask Parrots of Africa 

 (Palaornisfuscus), which daily resort 

 at the same hour to their accustomed 

 water to bathe. 



2 Similar instances are recorded in 

 other countries of sudden mortality 

 amongst crows to a prodigious ex- 

 tent, but whether occasioned by 



lightning seems uncertain. In 1839 

 thirty-three thousand dead crows 

 were found on the shores of a lake 

 in the county "Westmeath in Ireland 

 after a storm. THOMPSON'S Nat. 

 Hixt. Ireland, vol. i. p. 319, and Pat- 

 terson in his Zoology, p. 350, men- 

 tions other cases. 



