52 
SPOLIA ZEYLAtfICA. 
V 
to Nika we wa and Tanamalwila, to the left to Hambegamuwa. Half 
a mile beyond the junction is the village of Suriya-ar, where we 
stopped for breakfast and were fortunate in securing a fine example 
of the remarkable locust Teratodes monticollis (see this Journal, vol. 
II., p. 200) ; its prevailing colour was grass green, with a yellow 
border along the dorsal crest. 
Near Suriya-ar I encountered a small gecko* resting in the usual 
attitude, head downwards on the trunk of a tree. Even at some 
little distance I noticed that it presented two pairs of delicate 
piominences in the middle of the back, about half an inch apart. 
These proved to be the upstanding wings of two small yellow-bodied 
flies, and I believe this is the first time that flies have actually been 
seen upon these geckos, a fact of some interest in connection with 
the transmission of their blood-parasites. I secured the gecko, 
but missed the flies ; later on I saw two more of the geckos in a like 
position, but without flies. 
That night we camped in a pretty dingle, where the country 
rock flanks the road about a quarter of a mile beyond the village of 
Kalawelgala. Here were several rock-pools, one of which yielded 
drinking water, another contained tadpoles and Ephemerid larvae. 
The next day found us at our destination, where we took up our 
quarters under the galvanized iron roof of a new irrigation bungalow. 
From here the road continues as a bridle track or footpath, 24 miles 
northwards to Haldummulla. The Hambegamuwa people, in their 
simple piety, wend their way along a leafy lane, at the end of which 
there is a modest shrine with steps leading up to it and backed by a 
green tumulus, the crumbling remains of an ancient dagoba. In its 
perfect seclusion and old-world rusticity I have seen nothing to 
equal it in Ceylon. 
Among the more interesting species of birds obtained here were 
the Indian cuckoo, Sonnerat’s cuckoo, green-billed malkoha, the 
black and white fan-tailed flycatcher, several warblers, and a kestrel. 
The Ceylonese hornbill was very abundant; a large stork-billed 
kingfisher was collected ; among the tank birds, the taxidermist 
reported that he had seen only one shell ibis. The illustration shows 
the superficial resemblance, in general physiognomy and colour- 
markings, of the Indian cuckoo to the smaller birds of prey. 
Sonnerat’s cuckoo (Penthoceryx sonnerati, see Blanford, Fauna Brit. 
Ind., III., p. 219) is now more appropriately referred to as the 
banded bay cuckoo in allusion to its rich bay or chestnut-coloured 
plumage with dark cross-bands ; the colour appears sombre in jungle 
light, into which the specimen obtained flew about an hour before sun¬ 
down, alighting noiselessly upon a low branch. 
At this time the water in the great tank at Hambegamuwa was 
Very low, a large part of the bed being dry. The fallen logs, which 
Hemidactylus frenatus. 
