17G ZOOLOGY. [PART II. 



in shallow water the crown of the head becomes inverted 

 and the upper mandible brought into contact with the 

 bottom ; where its flattened surface qualifies it for per- 

 forming the functions of the lower one in birds of the same 

 class ; and the edges of both being laminated, it is thus 

 enabled, like the duck, by the aid of its fleshy tongue, to sift 

 its food before swallowing. 



Floating on the surface of the deeper water, are fleets of 

 the Anatida3,theCoromandel teal 1 , the Indian hooded gull 2 , 

 the Caspian tern, and a countless variety of ducks and 

 smaller fowl. Pelicans 3 resort in great numbers to the 

 mouths of the rivers, taking up their position at sunrise on 

 some projecting rock, from which to dart on the passing 

 fish, and returning far inland at night to then: retreats 

 among the trees which overshadow some ruined water- 

 course or deserted tank. 



Of the birds familiar to European sportsmen, partridges 

 and quails are to be had at all times ; the woodcock has 

 occasionally been shot in the hills, and the ubiquitous 

 snipe, which arrives in September from Southern India, is 

 identified not alone by the eccentricity of its flight, but by 

 retaining in high perfection the qualities which have en- 

 deared it to the gastronome at home. But the magnificent 

 pheasants that inhabit the Himalayan range and the 

 woody hills of the Chin-Indian peninsula, have no repre- 

 sentative amongst the tribes that people the woods of Cey- 

 lon ; although a bird believed to be a pheasant has more 

 than once been seen in the jungle, close to Eangbodde, on 

 the road to Neuera-elha. 



1 NettapusCoromandelianus,6 r j^. I 3 Pelicanus Philippensis, Gmcl. 

 2 Larus brunnicephalus, Jerd. 



