SMS 
BIRDS. 
[Chap. VIII. 
and savage husband, who suspected the fidelity of his 
wife, availed himself of her absence to kill her child, 
of whose paternity he was doubtful, and on her return 
placed before her a curry prepared from its flesh. Of 
this the unhappy woman partook, till discovering the 
crime by finding the finger of her infant, she fled in 
frenzy to the forest, and there destroyed herself. On 
her death she was metamorphosed, according to the 
Buddhist belief, into an ulama, or Devil-bird, which 
still at nightfall horrifies the villagers by repeating 
the frantic screams of the bereaved mother in her 
agony. 
II. Passeres. Sivallows. — Within thirty-five miles of 
Caltura, on the western coast, are inland caves, to which 
the Esculent Swift 1 resorts, and there builds the " edible 
bird's nest," so highly prized in China. Near the spot 
a few Chinese immigrants have established themselves, 
who rent the nests as a royalty from the government, 
and make an annual export of the produce. But the 
Swifts are not confined to this district, and caves con- 
doubt: he says — " The Devil-Bird 
is not an owl. I never heard it 
until I came to Kornegalle, where 
it haunts the rocky hill at the hack 
of Government-house. Its ordinary 
note is a magnificent clear shout 
like that of a human being, and 
which can be heard at a great dis- 
tance, and has a fine effect in the 
silence of the closing night. It has 
another cry like that of a ben just 
caught, but the sounds which have 
earned for it its bad name, and 
which I have heard but once to 
perfection, are indescribable, the 
most appalling that can be ima- 
gined, and scarcely to be heard 
without shuddering; I can only 
compare it to a boy in torture, 
whose screams are being stopped 
by being strangled. I have offered 
rewards for a specimen, but with- 
out success. The only European 
who had seen and fired at one 
agreed with the natives that it is 
of the size ©f a pigeon, with a long 
tail. I believe it is a Podargus or 
Night Hawk." In a subsequent 
note he further says — "I have 
since seen two birds by moonlight, 
one of the size and shape of a 
cackoo, the other a large black 
bird, which I imagine to be the 
one which gives these calls." 
1 CoUocaliabrevirostris,ilfcC'M/.; 
C. nidifica, Gray. 
