BIRDS OF UPPER PEGU. 5 



undergrowth (what little there is, is very low) ; many of them 

 are destitute of bamboos, and in all cases water is very scarce or 

 altogether absent. Under these conditions, it cannot be expected 

 that they should be favorite haunts for birds, and we accordingly 

 find very few species in these dry localities. Woodpeckers alone 

 abound. The soil being sandy, ants of all sorts swarm. 



" The remaining quarter of this district is either cultivated or 

 covered with bamboo and scrub jungle, among which the Jujube 

 tree is ever present. 



" Elephant grass grows only on some of the sand-banks of 

 the Irrawaddy, and at the bends of nullahs. In nothing is the 

 difference between the dry and wet portions of Burmah more 

 conspicuously shown than in the distribution of this plant. South 

 of Poungday it covers every available piece of ground ; it forms 

 the undergrowth of all the forests ; and in the Rangoon and 

 Henzadah Districts, miles and miles of ground produce nothing 

 but this grass. Seated on an elephant, it is frequently impossible 

 to look round you ; such is its height. There is also another point 

 of difference, trivial it may seem and yet materially affecting the 

 general aspect of the country. In Tharawaddy, and generally 

 south of Poungday, a huge nest-hill of white-ants, from eight 

 to twelve feet high, is to be seen on almost every acre of ground. 

 Northwards, though white-ants are equally common, it would 

 be difficult to find one hill per square mile of country ; and the 

 few one meets with rarely exceed three feet in height, are com- 

 paratively unsubstantial, and fail to catch the eye. These are 

 two of the more salient points of difference between the dry and 

 wet regions ; there are of course many others, but they need not 

 here be dwelt upon. 



"To return, at an elevation of 1,000 feet, we still find the 

 dry mixed forests ; but there is a large intermixure of Teak, 

 straight and free from branches for thirty or forty feet from the 

 ground, widely differing from the weedy tree of the plains. Large 

 bamboos, growing in clumps of ten or twenty, are scattered over 

 the hill-sides, and constitute the chief feature of the vegetation. 



" These bamboos really deserve special mention. Not uncom- 

 monly, they attain a height of seventy-five feet, with a girth of 

 twenty-four inches near the ground ; perfectly straight, they are 

 also free from the small branches which render other bamboos so 

 troublesome. A cabin can be made from them by a few coolies 

 in half an hour; opened out flat by a few strokes of a knife, 

 a capital floor can be formed over joists of the same material, and 

 at any height from the ground required. The bark, cut into thin 

 strips, supplies all the necessaiy binding materials. By splitting 

 the bamboos in half, and arranging them after the manner of tiles, 

 a neat and thoroughly rain-proof roof is made. The walls, if 

 necessary, can be made in the same manner as the floor. Whole 



