318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



down a Sparrow nearly as big as himself, the gallant and tigerish Sparrow- 

 hawk, and, on far hill-sides, Falcons of two or three kinds." 



With this extract we may conclude our notice of Mr. Kipling's 

 volume, which we have read with much interest. -It is lightly 

 and pleasantly written, and for an elementary study of Indian 

 animals, their treatment and. usage, and the popular estimates 

 and sayings current about them, it may well be recommended to 

 the notice of our readers. 



Palms and Pearls; or, Scenes in Ceylon, By Alan Walters. 

 8vo. London : Eichard Bentley & Son. 189&. 



Although not a professed naturalist, Dr. Alan Walters is 

 evidently a good observer, and the account which he gives in 

 this volume of his sojourn in Ceylon is very pleasant reading. 



We shall not attempt to follow him through the chapters 

 which deal with the history of the island under Portuguese, 

 Dutch, and British rule ; nor have we space at command to quote 

 his picturesque descriptions of the scenery and native pro- 

 ductions. Our concern is rather with what he has to tell us 

 regarding the fauna, to which about seventy pages are devoted. 



Passing over his remarks upon the Oeylonese Elephant, on 

 which an entire volume has been written by Sir Emerson Ten- 

 nant, and upon the native Wild Boar, which, we are told, weighs 

 not unusually six hundredweight, we come to the Cheeta (Hind. 

 Chita) , or hunting Leopard, concerning whose occurrence in 

 Ceylon authorities seem to differ. Turning to Blanford's 

 1 Fauna of British India,' we read, in the volume devoted to 

 Mammalia, p. 9^:— "How far south C. jubatus ranges does not 

 appear to be recorded ; the animal is not found on the Malabar 

 coast, nor, according to Jerdon, in Ceylon." Dr. Walters's 

 remarks on the subject are somewhat paradoxical. At p. 147, 

 he writes : — 



" More common (£• e., than the Sloth Bear) and less dreaded is the 

 Cheetah (native Cooteah), which in Ceylon is a different animal from the 

 native Leopard, with which it is often wrongly classed. . Both in habits 

 and appearance it is quite distinct, in that it is smaller, and possesses, 

 according to some observers, no retractile power in its claws, which are not 

 curved, but formed like the toe-nails of a dog." 



Tins description clearly points to C.jubatus, but on the very 



