916 HYDROPHASIANUS CHIRURGTTS. 



Distribution. — The Water-Pheasant is pretty generally diffused throughout all the low country where 

 there are waters suited to its habits, the tank-districts containing it in large numbers, owing to the abundance 

 of its favourite haunts — lonely, Lotus-covered, jungle-surrounded sheets of water. There is perhaps scarcely a 

 single tank, large or small, from the north down to Kuruncgala on the west and to Hamhantota on the south- 

 east, which is not inhabited by it in greater or less numbers. It is not so numerous in the larger recently- 

 restored tanks, which are now, as a rule, full of deep water, as in the larger class of village tanks, or those 

 which are still at the mercy of the monsoon rains, which pour through the ruined embankments in great 

 floods, and speedily leave the swampy areas as they were before. In the latter it confines itself to shallow 

 nooks overgrown with weeds and Lotus-plants, while some of the former literally teem with it. On such sheets 

 of water as the Peria kulam, Pan kulam, Kalpe tank, Wenriyan kulam, Topare, and Haborenna tanks, and 

 many such throughout the North-western Province and the Anaradhapura district, it is very abundant. I have 

 met with it at all the tanks of the Eastern Province that I have visited ; and Mr. Forbes Laurie tells me that 

 it is very plentiful at Bintenne Lake. In the south-east it is very abundant in some localities, one of which, 

 the tank at Sittrawella, near Tissa Maha Rama, I may cite in particular. It is not so plentiful in the South- 

 west and the Western Province as in the tank-districts ; but there are nevertheless localities in the neighbour- 

 hood of Matara and between that part and Amblangoda where numbers are to be found. I have met with it 

 near Galle on isolated pieces of water or ponds in paddy-fields. On Bolgodde Lake it affects the shallow and 

 weedy inlets on the shores of this large sheet of water. Near Colombo it is found at Kotte Lake and at 

 Kaesbawa ; and in the interior there are other localities frequented by it, it being abundant at the tank close 

 to the town of Kuruncgala. 



Jerdon states that it is spread throughout India where there are jheels and weedy tanks. We have little 

 data as yet afforded us in 'Stray Feathers' as to the particular localities in South India where it is abundant; 

 and I notice that Mr. Bourdillon does not include it among the species which he saw at the Vellarney Lake, 

 Southern Travancore. Messrs. Davidson and Wcnder observe that it occurs sparingly in the Deccan; and 

 Dr. Fairbank likewise remarks that it is rare in that district. Mr. Ball says that it is occasionally seen in 

 jheels in Chota Nagpur, and instances the Ilajmehal hills, Manbhum, and Lohardugga as the localities in 

 which he noticed it. In Furreedpore Mr. Cripps remarks that it is very common during the rains, and then 

 found in every swamp. From October until March it disappears from that portion of the country. Elsewhere 

 in Bengal we have Capt. Beavan's testimony for its occurrence at Rungpore and Berhampore. 



It extends into the north-west of the empire, ascending the hills, according to Mr. Hume, and breeding 

 freely even in Cashmere, in which region Dr. Henderson found it abundant near Banihal. The former 

 gentleman observed it in Sindh at the inland tanks ; and Capt. Butler records it as common in Northern 

 Guzerat and the neighbourhood of Mount Aboo, but only during the cold weather. He, however, instances 

 the case of a single example found near Deesa in the hot weather. Mr. Hume remarks that it is not 

 uncommon in Kattiawar, Kuteh, and Jodhpoor, as well as in Guzerat, and records it as abundant in the cool 

 si ason at the Kunkrowlee Lake in Oodeypore. Turning eastward, we find Mr. Inglis stating that it is very 

 rare in North-east Cachar ; and in Upper Pegu Mr. Oates only met with one specimen, which he killed in 

 February in winter plumage. In the Irrawaddy delta Dr. Armstrong did not procure it ; but Captain Wardlaw 

 Ramsay obtained it at Tonghoo. Three specimens only are recorded by Mr. Hume as having been shot during 

 the rains at Thatone, and he states that its occurrence in Tenasserim must be looked upon as accidental. In 

 the Indo-Chinese and Malayan region it appears to be sparingly distributed, for though we have ample record 

 of its occurrence here and there, we do not find it stated that it is common anywhere, except perhaps in Java, 

 from which island there is a fair series of specimens in the Leydeu Museum ; it was procured there by Diard. 

 Salvadori records it doubtfully from Borneo ; but from what part it is supposed to have come is not stated ; 

 it does not appear to have been met with in Sarawak. It was first made known to science from the Philip, 

 pines, vi here it was procured in the island of Luzon by Sonnerat, who gave it the singular title of " Chirurgien " 

 (surgeon) of that isle ! Von Martens likewise procured it in that island. In Formosa Swinhoe met with it, 

 and he likewise records it from the Amoy coast and from Hankow in the interior. 



Habits. — This most singular and interesting bird, which appears to have no slight affinities with the 

 Plovers, affects only such waters as are overgrown with floating vegetation, more particularly the Lotus-plant, 



