264 CEXTROPUS CHLOEORHTNCHUS. 



the many jungles near Galle up to the altitude of the coffee-districts of the Morowak Korale, the whole of 

 the Western Province, and the strip of country lying between Kurunegala and Dambulla. In this latter 

 region I do not think it extends into the Seven Korales beyond the influence of the hill rains. It is not 

 uncommon on the Deduru-oya and in the jungles between the Ambokka range and the outlying rocky hills, of 

 which the Dolookanda forms the most conspicuous point; and I have met with it as far north as the 

 Kimbulana-oya, where it is crossed by the direct road from Kurunegala to Anaracljapura via Rambawe. 



This portion of the Seven Korales is very dry, and this bird only inhabits there the heavy jungle on 

 the borders of the seasonal rivers and streams. Whether it extends out to the north-w r est beyond the locality 

 indicated I am unable to say ; but near the hills I have traced it from Kurunegala up to the vicinity of 

 Dambulla. To return to the Western Province, which is its head-quarters, this bird is there common in all 

 the heavy forest and jungle, as well as in bamboo-cheena from Ambepussa to Ratnapura, inhabiting all out- 

 lying dense woods between this line and Colombo. About Hanwclla, in the Ikkade-Barawe forest, in the 

 jungles near Pore, and thence south to Horenne, its deep booming note may always be recognized by 



i who know it, and in the forest named it is abundant. I found it numerous in the Ratnapura district, 

 and traced it up to Pallabaddoola, which is high up (2500 feet) in the Peak forest. To this elevation, and 

 perhaps somewhat higher, it doubtless ascends all along the western slopes of the Kandyan hills and round 

 through the Peak jungles for some distance east of Ratnapura. Westward of this place I met with it through 

 the Pasdun Korale to Agalewatta ; and southward of this it will be found to occur sparingly in the jungles 

 on cither side of the Bentota river, and other heavily timbered localities between there and the Hinedun-Pattu 

 hills. I have heard it near Denniya and in the Singha-Rajah forest. Near Galle it is met with in the 

 Kottowe jungles. I have thus far taken pains to trace out the distribution of this little-known bird perhaps 

 more minutely than may at first sight be thought necessary; but it seems expedient so to do, as it is so seldom 

 seen that many who are not acquainted with its note would pass it over entirely did they not know in what 

 districts to look for it. I cannot say how far eastward of Ratnapura it extends, nor whether it occurs on 

 the eastern slopes of the Kolonna Korale; but in all probability future research will much extend its limits 

 both in the south and probably also round the northern base of the Kandyan hills. 



Habits. — Of all our forest birds perhaps the present species is the most wary and seldom seen, scarcely 

 ever emerging from the almost impenetrable fastnesses in which it lives. The Ceylon Coucal almost defies all 

 discovery except by those who have made themselves acquainted with its note and care to follow it into its 

 retreat. It is a denizen of tangled thickets, underwood in forests and on the banks of rivers, dense bamboo- 

 jungle (to which it is especially partial), ratan-cane brakes, and such like, and rarely shows itself in the open 

 except by the side of a road passing through forest, to which it will drop for an instant from an adjoining 

 tree on espying a grasshopper or other insect, quickly retreating again under cover before any but the 



Lest shot can secure it. In the early morning, when the bamboo-cheenas in the wild parts of the Western 

 Province arc resounding with its deep far-reaching call, it mounts up from the underwood into some creeper- 

 covered tree, which is a favourite situation with it, and gives forth its sonorous, long-drawn hou — whoop, 

 whooop, which can be heard with distinctness for many miles round, echoing far over the luxuriant glades 

 and waving rice-fields into the distant beetling wooded crags, from which it is answered back by more than one 

 of its lurking fellow mates; for, as is the case with its congener, one note thus given out is the signal for 

 many more, called forth from all sides, until there is a sudden cessation, as if by common consent. As will 

 be gathered from my remarks on its habits, it is an exceedingly difficult bird to procure ; for years I had 

 been seeking it in the jungles of Ceylon, knowing well that the loud peculiar Coucal-notes which I often 

 heard in the damp forests of the west could not be those of any other bird, but was never able to procure a 

 specimen, until one morning, in the Hewagam Korale, I penetrated into a dense bamboo-thicket towards a huge 

 ivergrown tree, in which one of these birds was sending forth an unusual number of its sepulchral calls, and 

 succeeded in bagging it, thus identifying the species with its note and enabling me, by adopting this device, 

 to procure many specimens, and to jot down in my notebook, on auricular testimony, its distribution wherever 

 I went. Its habit is to call for several hours in the morning and evening, or after a shower of rain, when it 

 mounts up into a tree to escape the dripping underwood and dry its plumage. When disturbed, or after 

 re-alighting on being flushed, it has a very singular monosyllabic note, somewhat resembling the dropping of a 



