264 
CEXTROPUS CHLORORHTNCHUS. 
the many jungles near Galle up to the altitude of the coffee-districts of the Morowak Korale, the whole of 
the Western Province, and the strip of country lying between Kurunegala and Dambulla. In this latter 
region I do not think it extends into the Seven Korales beyond the influence of the hill rains. It is not 
uncommon on the Deduru-oya and in the jungles between the Ambokka range and the outlying rocky hills, of 
which the Dolookanda forms the most conspicuous point ; and I have met with it as far north as the 
Kimbulana-oya, where it is crossed by the direct road from Kurunegala to Anaradjapura via Rambawe. 
This portion of the Seven Korales is very dry, and this bird only inhabits there the heavy jungle on 
the borders of the seasonal rivers and streams. Whether it extends out to the north-west beyond the locality 
indicated I am unable to say ; but near the hills I have traced it from Kurunegala up to the vicinity of 
Dambulla. To return to the Western Province, which is its head-quarters, this bird is there common in all 
the heavy forest and jungle, as well as in bamboo-cheena from Ambepussa to Ratnapura, inhabiting all out- 
Iving dense woods between this line and Colombo. About Hanwella, in the Ikkade-Barawe forest, in the 
jungles near Pore, and thence south to Horenne, its deep booming note may always be recognized by 
those who know it, and in the forest named it is abundant. I found it numerous in the Ratnapura district, 
and traced it up to Pallabaddoola, which is high up (2500 feet) in the Peak forest. To this elevation, and 
perhaps somewhat higher, it doubtless ascends all along the western slopes of the Kandyan hills and round 
through the Peak jungles for some distance east of Ratnapura. Westward of this place I met with it through 
the Pasdun Korale to Agalewatta ; and southward of this it will be found to occur sparingly in the jungles 
on either side of the Bentota river, and other heavily timbered localities between there and the Hinedun-Pattu 
hills. I have heard it near Denniya and in the Singlia- Rajah forest. Near Galle it is met with in the 
Kottowe jungles. I have thus far taken pains to trace out the distribution of this little-known bird perhaps 
more minutely than may at first sight be thought necessary ; but it seems expedient so to do, as it is so seldom 
seen that many who are not acquainted with its note would pass it over entirely did they not know in what 
districts to look for it. I cannot say how far eastward of Ratnapura it extends, nor whether it occurs on 
the eastern slopes of the Kolonna Korale ; but in all probability future research will much extend its limits 
both in the south and probably also round the northern base of the Kandyan hills. 
Habits .— Of all our forest birds perhaps the present species is the most wary and seldom seen, scarcely 
ever emerging from the almost impenetrable fastnesses in which it lives, lhe Ceylon Coucal almost defies all 
discovery except by those who have made themselves acquainted with its note and care to follow it into its 
retreat. It is a denizen of tangled thickets, underwood in forests and on the banks of rivers, dense bamboo- 
jungle (to which it is especially partial), ratan-cane brakes, and such like, and rarely shows itself in the open 
except by the side of a road passing through forest, to which it will drop for an instant from an adjoining 
tree on espying a grasshopper or other insect, quickly retreating again under cover before any but the 
quickest shot can secure it. In the early morning, when the bamboo-cheenas in the wild parts of the Western 
Province are resounding with its deep far-reaching call, it mounts up from the underwood into some creeper- 
covered tree, which is a favourite situation with it, and gives forth its sonorous, long-drawn hob — ivhoop, 
whuobp, which can be heard with distinctness for many miles round, echoing far over the luxuriant glades 
and waving rice-fields into the distant beetling wooded crags, from which it is answered back by more than one 
of its lurking fellow mates ; for, as is the case with its congener, one note thus given out is the signal for 
manv more, called forth from all sides, until there is a sudden cessation, as if by common consent. As will 
be gathered from my remarks on its habits, it is an exceedingly difficult bird to procure ; for years I had 
been seeking it in the jungles of Ceylon, knowing well that the loud peculiar Coucal-notes which I often 
heard in the damp forests of the west could not be those of any other bird, but was never able to procure a 
specimen, until one morning, in the Hewagam Korale, I penetrated into a dense bamboo-thicket towards a huge 
overgrown tree, in which one of these birds was sending forth an unusual number of its sepulchral calls, and 
succeeded in bagging it, thus identifying the species with its note and enabling me, by adopting this device, 
to procure many specimens, and to jot down in my notebook, on auricular testimony, its distribution wherever 
I went. Its habit is to call for several hours in the morning and evening, or after a shower of rain, wffien it 
mounts up into a tree to escape the dripping underwood and dry its plumage. When disturbed, or after 
re-alighting on being flushed, it has a very singular monosyllabic note, somewhat resembling the dropping of a 
