ornithology be mooted in conversation questions are invariably asked as to 
the "Devil Bird}. "What is it? Have its direful notes been heard?" and 
so forth. Very diverse opinions have always existed as to the identity of 
this bird, notwithstanding that the natives of the island,, and consequently 
those who have worked at its ornithology and gathered couch of their know¬ 
ledge of the habits of its birds from them, have always imputed the discor¬ 
dant notes uttered by some nocturnal bird to the present species. 
Kelaart writes "The shriek of the Devil Bird is most appalling. The su¬ 
perstitious natives listen to, these dismal cries with great horror; some 
death, or lesser misfortune, is apprehended when an owl sings (?) nightly 
over a hut, or on a tree overshadowing^ it®. 
Layard follows with the information that the Wood Owl (Syrnium Indrani), 
"utters the most doleful cries, which the natives consider the sure sign of 
approaching evil". 
Sir E. Tennant writes that the Sinhalese regard this owl "literally with 
horror, and its scream by night in the vicinity of a-village is bewailed as 
the harbinger of impending calamity"; and further that there is a popular 
legend connected with it, to the effect, "that a morose and savage husband, 
who suspected his wife’s fidelity, availed himself of her absence to kill 
her child, of whose paternity he was doubtful, and on her return placed bef¬ 
ore her a curry prepared from its flesh. Of this the unhappy woman partook 
till discovering the crime by finding the finger of her infant, she fled in 
frenzy to the forest, and there destroyed herself. On her death she was 
metamorphosed, according to the Buddhist belief, into an Ulama, or Devil 
Bird, which still at nightfall horrifies the villagers by repeating the rran 
tic screams of the bereaved mother in her agony®. 
I have been assured by gentlemen in Ceylon that the owl which makes these 
wonderful noises is a small whitish bird, and some have told me that they 
have seen it in the act of uttering them. This description would seem to 
Indicate the next species, a bird, until lately, quite unknown in the island 
The author just quoted publishes in a foot-note at page 248 of his "Natural 
History offCeylon" a letter from Mr Mitford, late of the Ceylon Civil service 
and one who took great interest in the birds of the island, from which it 
will appear that he was doubtful as to the identity of the Devil Bird. 
He says, "The Devil Bird is not an owl. I never heard it until I came 
to Kurunegala, where it haunts the rocky hill at the back of Government 
House. Its ordinary note is a magnificent clear shout like that of a hu¬ 
man being,, which can be heard at a great distance,, and has a fine effect in 
