Chap. VIII.] 
PELICANS. 
265 
and slowly soared away in the direction of the sea- 
shore. 
The pelicans were apparently later in their move- 
ments ; they allowed us to approach as near them as 
the swampy nature of the soil would permit ; and even 
when a gun was discharged amongst them, only those 
moved off which the particles of shot disturbed. They 
were in such numbers at this favourite place, that the 
water over which they had taken up their residence 
was swarming with crocodiles, attracted by the frequent 
fall of the young birds ; and the natives refused, from 
fear of them, to wade in for one of the larger pelicans 
which had fallen, struck by a rifle ball. It was alto- 
gether a very remarkable sight. 
Of the birds familiar to European sportsmen, par- 
tridges and quails are to be had at all times ; the wood- 
cock has occasionally been shot in the hills, and the 
ubiquitous snipe, which arrives in September from 
Southern India, is identified not alone by the eccen- 
tricity of its flight, but by retaining in high perfection 
the qualities which have endeared it to the gastronome 
at home. But the magnificent pheasants, which inhabit 
the Himalayan range and the woody hills of the Chin- 
Indian peninsula, have no representative amongst the 
tribes that people the woods of Ceylon ; although a bird 
believed to be a pheasant has more than once been 
seen in the jungle, close to Eangbodde, on the road to 
Neuera-ellia. 
List of Ceylon Birds. 
In submitting this catalogue of the birds of Ceylon, 
I am anxious to state that the copious mass of its con- 
