192 THE THOPICAL AaRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 190$. 
cept Maturata, and I again say bird-life 
was then as now conspicnous by its absence, 
though there were very large tracts of 
forests in Ambegarnuwa, Maskeliya, Dikoya, 
(right through to Balangoda) Diuibula, 
Uclapussellawa and so forth. All those forest 
lands were opened up within a few 
years, and I am told that by "Fer- 
guson's Handbook and Directory" of 
1878 there were 275 000 acres in coffee. In 
June I9u2, it is said, we had 386,343 acres in 
tea or 111,000 odd more than we had in cuftee 
22 years previously and that I have, therefore, 
grievously exaggerated in stating that 99 
per cent of our present tea land was for- 
merly in coffee. 
Figures are avi^f ully dangei'ous things ; but, 
I think, if any one cares to tot up the 
acreages opened in the Kelani Valley, Kalu- 
tara, Kadugannawa, Kegalla and Balangoda, 
Nawalapitiya to Matale Valley and so on 
they will find the sum total is the differing 
11,000 acres or even more so. Where, pray, is 
the gross exaggeration ? 
It may se^m strange, but it is quite true 
birds have followed civilisation upcountry 
and " Common Sense" could not help knowing 
this were he an upcountry man and an 
ordinary observer of bird-life. I could easily 
show hiiu more than a dozen varieties of birds 
here now and quite double this number 
during the North Bast monsoon when our 
migratory friends come. 
All they want is a sanctuary , of some 
extent n.ear the bungalow and trees scattered 
over the country. A pair of Humming-birds 
have built here for years within a foot of 
iny bedroom window and this year they 
hatched two broods out of the same nest; 
but what becomes of the young it is difficult 
to say as they never seem to increase since 
the Jungle Crows put in an appearance a 
few years ago ; so I say keep down the crow. 
There is no cheap sneering 3 bout anything 
I have written. I am too much in earnest 
for thiit; but I do more or less resent 
dogmatic assertions from men who know 
nothing whatever about the subject they are 
writing on. 
If " Common Sense " and Dr. Willey, too, 
whom I hope to have the pleasure of meeting 
some day, will come upcountry and see for 
themselves, I'll trot them along from Boga- 
wantalawa to Pedro through hundreds of 
thousands of acres of primeval forest and 
grass-lands, and if they are not surprised at 
the paucity of bird-life, I'll stand them any- 
thing they like in Nuwara Eliya and cry 
Feccavi !— Yours truly, 
JOHN FRASER. 
[Legge, in his book on Birds, gives 47 
speciHB as peculiar to Ceylon of which 19 
are found in and around JSuwara EliJ'a 
and generally on the plateaux over 5,000 feet. 
As regards area cultivated in Dlmbula, 
Dikoya, Maskeliya, Lower Dikoya, AmlMi- 
gamuwa, Kotniale, Pussellawa, Ramboda, 
Punduloya, Upper Hewahetta, Maturatta, 
Udapussellawa and Nuwara Eliya in 1878 and 
1903, the comparison works out as follows :— 
In 1878, total 13,5,000 acres ; in 1903, 174,000 
ucies.— Ei>- ^'.-^'J 
NEW VARIETIES OP SWEET POTATOES. 
Colombo, July 81. 
Dear Sir,-- -1 am sending you {^-dozen 
each of 3 varieties of American sweet- 
potatoes, named Nancimund, Virginia and 
New Jersey, grown in the stock garden. They 
are not of any size, but are considered to 
be of good quality. You will find that they 
have not much "sweetness" about them ; 
at any rate far less than local varieties. 
So far 1 have not come across anything to 
beat the sweet-potatoes of Hangurankette 
where I have seen them weighing 5 to 6 
lb. each (and they are said to go up to 8 and 
10 lb.) but still mealy and of good flavour. 
I mean to ask Mr. Fairchild (Agricultural 
Explorer to the U. S. Government) to give 
this variety a trial in America. — Yours 
truly, C. D. 
[We shall have pleasure in trying and 
giving an opinion on the new potatoes. — 
Ed. T.A.] 
THE PROTECTION OF INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
Abbotsford, Aug. 1. 
Dear Sir,— I promised something further 
7'e the attraction of birds to civilisation 
and along with this, if you can kindly afford 
the space, I should like to say a few 
words concerning the carping criticisms of 
the writer who dubs himself " Common 
Sense" though, I think, it very regrettable 
that such silly little side issues should have 
been dragged into this discussion. 
My primary assertions were that in the 
primeval jungles of our higher districts 
long ago and now, there were and are very few 
birds, but that matters improve when the 
land is opened as birds follow civilisation, 
and are far more plentiful in the open than 
in the jungles. 
I expressed an opinion that the smaller 
ones seemed to be getting less plentiful within 
the last year or two and I said I had reason 
to believe the Jungle Crow, quite a decent 
addition to our upcouutry birds, was the 
cause of this. 
The contention on the other side was that 
the recent felling of large areas for tea was 
the cause of the scarcity of bird-life up- 
country, a most absurd idea seeing we have 
opened only 9,000 acres of land, and that 
by no means all forest, during the last 22 
years or just 2/5 per cent of an annual 
increase on our opened area of 22 years ago. 
" Common Sense " now drags me down 
to Gehenna— pardon, I see he calls it Gala- 
gedera— in his attempt to still prove my 
statements " gross exaggerations " I 
I shall take no further notice of his 
uncommon nonsense as it is birds and not 
irrational arguments we want. He tells us 
' there are no Humming Birds in Ceylon;" 
but as Tennent says the birds I alluded to are 
known by that name it should suffice for 
ordinary folk. Now for the attraction of birds 
to civilisation. I ti'otted out the house-spar* 
row as an instance of birds following roads and 
railways aud I was jeered at, will uow give 
