258 
BIEDS. 
[Chap. VIII. 
migratory *, allured, as the Singhalese allege, by the 
ripening of the cinnamon berries, and hence one species 
is known in the southern provinces as the " Cinnamon 
Dove." Others feed on the fruits of the banyan : and 
it is probably to their instrumentality that this mar- 
vellous tree chiefly owes its diffusion, its seeds being 
carried by them to remote localities. A very beautiful 
pigeon, peculiar to the mountain range, discovered in 
the lofty trees at Neuera-ellia, has, in compliment to 
the Viscountess Torrington, been named Carpophaga 
Torringtonice. 
Another, called by the natives neela-cobeya 2 } although 
strikingly elegant both in shape and colour, is still more 
remarkable for the singularly soothing effect of its low 
and harmonious voice. A gentleman who has spent 
many years in the jungle, in writing to me of this 
bird and of the effects of its melodious song, says, that 
t( its soft and melancholy notes, as they came from some 
solitary place in the forest, were the most gentle sounds 
I ever listened to. Some sentimental smokers assert 
that the influence of the propensity is to make them 
feel as if they could freely forgive all who had ever 
offended them ; and I can say with truth such has been 
the effect on my own nerves of the plaintive murmurs 
of the neela-cobeya, that sometimes, when irritated, and 
not without reason, by the perverseness of some of 
my native followers, the feeling has almost instantly 
subsided into placidity on suddenly hearing the loving 
tones of these beautiful birds." 
1 Alsocomus puniceus, the " Sea- its periodical arrival and departure. 
sonPigeon" of Ceylon, so called from 2 Chaleophaps Indicus, Linn, 
