ke. The "painted snipe," as it is called, is very common,
having a chocolate-colored head and a white collar, with back and
wings of green, the tail feathers being spotted with yellow like a
butterfly's wings. It is a very active bird and is never quiet for a
single moment, constantly teetering when upon its feet while seeking
for red worms in the sand. A very similar bird is often seen on the
salt-water beaches of New England, which resembles this Ceylon example
in shape, size, and habits, but not in the texture of its feathers.
The American bird also called snipe is of a uniform pale lavender
color. It is shy enough on our coast, but its tropical brother is as
tame as a pigeon. These places are teeming with blossoms,--pink
lilies, bearing broad, floating, heart-shaped leaves whose roots are
securely anchored to the bottom. Some of the plants resting so
serenely on the glass-like surface have short, delicate white roots,
and receive their nutriment only from the air and water, not coming in
contact with the earth at all. Others, with insect-inviting petals,
close promptly upon the victims allured to their embrace and digest
them at leisure, thriving marvelously upon this animal nourishment.
Any agency which tends to diminish the myriads of flies and mosquitoes
is an assured blessing.

When a native hut is seen, it is found scarcely to equal the ant-hills
in neatness and solidity of construction. Close by the cabin the
always interesting bread-fruit-tree rears its tall head, abounding in
its large pale green product, which forms a never-failing natural food
supply. It is a notable member of the fruit-bearing trees of these
latitudes, and is next in importance to the cocoa palm, with its
serrated, feathery leaves, and its melon-shaped product. The
bread-fruit weighs on an average ten pounds each, and often attains
double that weight. It is as fattening to cattle as the best Indian
meal, and the natives relish it, but to a European the bread-fruit is
not palatable. The tree grows about fifty feet in height, and requires
but very little attention to insure its welfare. Plenty of bananas,
the big jack fruit, mangoes, and plantains give altogether the
appearance of an abundance for the support of life. As regards the
valuable and, to the native, indispensable jack-tree, it is strongly
individualized, not only because it yields the largest of all edible
fruit, but also in the fact that the massive product grows out of the
bo