Sept. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
193 
one more instance which ought to be con- 
clusive. 
Legge states there are 19 birds in and 
around Nuwara Eliya peculiar to Ceylon 
and of course the statement of such an 
authority is indisputable. 
Please note they were in or around Nuwara 
Eliya and not in the wilderness. 
I'll just take one of those birds as another 
example on the above subject and I see no 
reason why it should not be the Nuwara 
Eliya Blackbird. 
When I came to Abbotsford Black- birds 
were as much a " rara avis " as crows. So 
I took some trouble in catching a pair of 
young birds in Nuwara Eliya and I brought 
them over as, though we are only some 
4 miles from Nuwara Eliya, the sight of a 
Black bird here then was considered a very 
unusual sight indeed. 
Now I have often 3 or 4 nests of them 
within as many yards of my verandah and 
I should like to know why this change ? 
I maintain most birds, given reasonable 
shelter, prefer the open country as there is 
far more food there than in our impenetrable 
jungles. 
Black birds swarm here now and I believe 
they are pretty common all over Upper 
Dimbula, 
I think I should withdraw my indictment 
against theold cooliesfor the following reasons: 
— A year ago 1 noticed the excitement of a 
pair of black-birds in afield I was then prun- 
ing and I went to ascertain the cause. 
I found a tea bush in which there was a 
black bird's nest with a couple of half fledged 
youngsters. 
I was very wroth so I called the Kangany 
and the cooiy who had so stupidly pruned 
the bush and gave them " beans," 
The nest was then protected by some prun- 
ings and those birds survived and got away 
all right 1 know, as I had a look at them 
every time I passed that way, until I saw 
them flying around. 
Black- birds get to be very tame and don't 
mind in the least being hustled by the dogs 
until the youngsters are fledged and then 
they play the fool and drag them unneces- 
sarily far away. 
I have had as many as -i young black-birds 
brought me by the pluckers round the bun- 
galow of an afternoon and this is why I am 
inchned to I'etract my inclusion of the old 
coolies. Anywhere away from the lines the 
nests are fairly safe ; but when the children 
come in, it is different, A good large sanct- 
uary with plenty of undergrowth near the 
Jiungalow is, as I before said, the best safe- 
guard for birds. 
If the Durai is keen on anything, be it 
hunting, shooting, fishing or even bird pro- 
tection, be will find it doesn't take long 
to get Ramasaray to back him up and to take 
almost as keen an interest in the job as he 
does himself. 
^ -Yours truly, JOHN FRASEK. 
No. ll.-RE BIRD LIFE IN THE HILLS. 
August .3. 
Sir,— I think Mr. Fraser is quite correct 
that birds follow cultivation ; but there are 
many more birds in the jungles than people 
realise, for when walking through only, you 
see but few, but sit still for an hour in a 
quiet spot and birds begin to show up in a 
wonderful way. Why is Ceylon so short of 
game birds in comparison with India and 
other pai ts of the East ? I think it is due 
to the enormous numl>er of wild c its, mon- 
gooses and snakes. I heard of a planter the 
other day who had killed over 200 cats of 
sorts in a year or two with a pack of terriers. 
That man is doing more to help to increase 
birds than any man in the island. If we 
could but clear the Central Province of these 
pests, we should, I think, see a large increase 
of bird-life, but it is an endless job. I 
think we might start by killing all pet-cats, 
for they keep down bird-life round the 
bungalows and possibly disappear, and in 
crease the population of cats by inter breed- 
ing with the wild ones. I once tried to 
keen pheasants in large pens or aviaries out 
here. I stoned the wire-netting below ground, 
wired in the top 9 feet Irom ground and 
did everything I could to keep the cats out; 
but without effect as within six or nine 
months the pheasants (12) all met their deaths 
by cats or mongoose. They clear out my 
pigeons ; but curiously enough I have had 
no fowls killed for years, perhaps they have 
lost their taste for fowls. Snakes kill my 
young rabbits. How many varieties of cats 
are there including the mongoose and pole- 
cat tribe out here, I wonder. I fancy more 
than are mentioned in Tennent, — Yours tiuly, 
PROPRIETOR- 
OUR LABOUR FORCE AND RECRUIT- 
ING IN NEW DISTRICTS. 
Aug. 1. 
Dear Sie, — Permit me to thank the Chairman 
of the Ambegamuvva Planters' Association for the 
kind way he handled the subject of recruiting 
coolies from theTelugu district and for the resolu- 
tion carried by the meeting. The small increase 
of pay we agireed to give to induce coolies to come 
to work on our estates from a distance of 267 miles 
north of Madras is not so serious, as the present 
state of affairs as exemplified in the paragraph 
headed " kanganies promissory notes." 
Under the arrangement by which the felugu 
coolies have been brought to the estate not a 
pro-note has been signed, each individual cooly 
is responsible for the money advanced t9 him and 
the actual expenses incurred ou his journey from 
his village to the estate and for rice, curry stuffs, 
curably and cloths supplied if required on hia 
arrival. 
I hope the system of recruiting will be discussed 
and modified, if coolies can be induced to come to 
Ceylon estates ou easier terms ; but it must be 
remembered that in breaking ground in a new 
district, some inducements had to be held out to 
the coolies to comedo Ceylon, to them an unknown 
country. The difficulty was to get them to 
believe they were to be taken to Ceylon, seeing 
that at almost every atation the coolies; stopped, 
