ing
the organs of animals to their local necessities. The upper mandible,
which is convex in other birds, is in them flattened, whilst the lower,
instead of being flat, is convex. To those who have had an opportunity
of witnessing the action of the bird in its native haunts, the
expediency of this arrangement is at once apparent. The flamingo, to
counteract the extraordinary length of its legs, is provided with a
proportionately long neck, so that in feeding in shallow water the crown
of the head becomes inverted and the upper mandible brought into contact
with the bottom; where its flattened surface qualifies it for performing
the functions of the lower one in birds of the same class; and the edges
of both being laminated, it is thus enabled, like the duck, by the aid
of its fleshy tongue, to sift its food before swallowing.

[Footnote 1: Phoenicopterus roseus, _Pallas_.]

Floating on the surface of the deeper water, are fleets of the Anatidae,
the Coromandel teal[1], the Indian hooded gull[2], the Caspian tern, and
a countless variety of ducks and smaller fowl. Pelicans[3] in great
numbers resort to the mouths of the rivers, taking up their position at
sunrise on some projecting rock, from which to dart on the passing fish,
and returning far inland at night to their retreats among the trees
which overshadow some ruined watercourse or deserted tank.

[Footnote 1: Nettapus Coromandelianus, _Gmel._]

[Footnote 2: Larus brunnicephalus, _Jerd._]

[Footnote 3: Pelicanus Philippensis, _Gmel._]

Of the birds familiar to European sportsmen, partridges and quails are
to be had at all times; the woodcock has occasionally been shot in the
hills, and the ubiquitous snipe, which arrives in September from
Southern India, is identified not alone by the eccentricity of its
flight, but by retaining in high perfection the qualities which have
endeared it to the gastronome at home. But the magnificent pheasants
which inhabit the Himalayan range and the woody hills of the Chin-Indian
peninsula, have no representative amongst the tribes that people the
woods of Ceylon; although a bird believed to be a pheasant has more than
once been seen in the jungle, close to Rambodde, on the road to
Neuera-ellia.

_List of Ceylon Birds_.

In submitting this catalogue of the birds of Ceylon, I am anxious to
state that the copious mass of its contents is mainly due to the
untiring energy and exertions of my friend, Mr. E.L. Layard. Nearly
every