1841.] Asiatic Society. 921 



Mr. Bree, relative to the common Rat (Mus decumanus ) , to suggest the probability 

 of the same remarkable mode of feeding being resorted to in the pi*esent instance, 

 which the great power of the jaws and strength of the gnawing teeth seem to render 

 very likely. Mr. Bree describes the attacks of the Rats upon his " young oaks in a plan- 

 tation near a brook and small pond. They gnaw the tree off just below the ground ; 

 sometimes nearly as level as if it had been cut with a saw. Young trees nearly as thick 

 as my wrist," he states, " have been served in this way ; and I have been quite asto- 

 nished how the Rats could cut them through so completely. The fact is, the Rat begins 

 his operations underground, and eats upwards as far as he finds the wood soft enough 

 for his purpose, which is just below the surface : the consequence is, that the tree will 

 often remain erect, and appear to the eye as if nothing had happened to it ; but of 

 course it throws out no leaves in the spring, and, on taking hold of it, you find it loose, 

 and ready to come up with a touch."* The same has been observed of young willows 

 growing in a somewhat marshy soil, and been referred, as I believe erroneously, to the 

 operations of the Water Vole. According to the information supplied to Captain McLeod 

 by Mr. Barb, the Poue (Rhizomys cinereus) is an animal rarely seen, and is found 

 in the more hilly parts of the country. The Burmans eat the animal when they can 

 catch it. It burrows very rapidly, and spends the day time in holes, living on the roots 

 of the bamboo generally, but towards night-fall it comes out and amuses itself by cut- 

 ting the bamboo down, which it does very expeditiously. It does not take to the water 

 at all." f Mr. Hodgson was informed that the Nepalese species constructed burrows 

 under the roots of trees or shrubs, and that they may be taken almost as easily as a 

 domestic animal, from their extraordinary boldness or apathy. An interesting notice 

 follows, of an individual which that naturalist possessed alive. 



Of the foregoing six Quadrupeds, the Urva, the two Squirrels, and the Rhyzomys, 

 are new to our Museum; the Pteromys was represented only by an imperfect skin, 

 noticed in my last report ; and the Binturong is equally acceptable, as replacing, till 

 we can get a still better one, the very old and shabby specimen already mentioned. 



Of Birds, there are two species of the restricted order Scansores, or Parrots ; viz. 



1. Palceornis Pondicerianus, Vigors, or Psittacus mystaceus and himaculatus, 

 Shaw; which, though procurable in any number in Calcutta, is new to our Museum; and 



2. Psittacula vernalis, Swainson. — The small Crimson-rumped Lorikeet, which is 

 also a common bird in India. Both these species, and the former especially, as I am 

 informed by Mr. Barb, are very common on the Tenasserim coast, where also are 

 found four other species of Paloeornis, namely, P. Alexandria torquatus, Bengalensis, 

 and flavitorquis. 



The only Raptoi'ial species sent is — 



3. Athene cuculoides ; Noctua cuculoides, Vigors.— Which is also very common, 

 and much persecuted, and even frequently killed by the Crows (Corvus splendens, 

 Vieillot, or better named C. impudicus, Buchanan; the common Crow of India). 



Of the order Tnsessores, and first great division of it — Heterogenes, I find, among 

 the Syndactyli, technically so styled, two species of Buceridcs, three of Halcyonidee, 

 and two of Meropidce, viz. 



* Gardener's Magazine, vol. vii. p. 235, and Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii. p. 456. 

 t Calcutta Journal of Natural History, No. 7, p. 457. 

 X Ibid. p. 411 



