Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, S^c. 355 



tilted to the westward, about 600 feet high, the tilted side 

 being abrupt and precipitous, and the back portion gently de- 

 clining to the plain. The rock, in its formation, is of calcare- 

 ous conglomerate, similar to that of Apes' Hill, and interlarded 

 and stratified in like manner with clay. Its rocky front is 

 studded with bushes and coarse vegetation, its back clothed 

 with smooth grass. Round about are fields of young paddy, 

 sugar-canes cut or ready for cutting, and fallows in process of 

 preparation for further crops. Between it and Apes' Hill lies 

 the old decayed walled town of Kooseah, with its poor straggling 

 population and its curious central One- tree Hill (a good land- 

 mark), and several thriving sheltered villages with hedge-rows, 

 formed chiefly of the screw-pine [Pandanus, sp.). To the right of 

 Kooseah, and close to Whaleback, the easternmost of thecreeks from 

 our harbour terminates the lagoon in a marshy swamp. Such is a 

 slight sketch of the country passed. From the young paddy w^e got 

 Rallus striatus, and saw flocks of Buphus coromandelianus and Hero- 

 dias garzetta, with occasional examples of Ardetta cinnamomea, 

 Butorides javanica, and a few of Egret t a alba with their bills still 

 yellow. From the swamps we had Gallinago scolopacina, Rhyn- 

 chcea chinensis, Gallinula chloropus, G. phmnicura, Podiceps minor, 

 and Gallinago stenura. These last were common on grass-patches, 

 nearly dry, where we also killed a Gallinago solitaria — an 

 unusually early bird. In the fields under the harrow both G. 

 scolopacina and G. stenura were common enough, often in 

 '^ wisps," together with large flocks of Charadrius longipes. 

 The ground here was quite dry. In the fields and hedge-rows 

 we noticed Turtur chinensis, T. humilis, Centropus affinis, Lanius 

 shah, Oriolus chinensis, Myiagra azurea, Acridotheres crista- 

 tellus, and Pica media. Of birds of prey we saw several — 

 Milvus melanotis, Tinnunculus, sp. ?, Circus spilonotus, C. airu- 

 ginosus (it looked very like this species, but we did not procure 

 it), Accipiter nisus, A. gularis, Falco peregrinus, and F.subbuteo. 

 We saw also a small Hawk with a thick-set body, which 1 

 could not make out. At the foot of Whaleback we saw one 

 Pheasant and one Button-Quail {Turnix, sp.), being all the 

 true game we encountered in our long ramble. Large flocks 

 of Cypselus affinis and C. vittatus darted over our heads for the 



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