On the approach of evening the crows assemble in noisy groups along the margin of the fresh-water lake which surrounds Colombo on the eastern side; here for an hour or two they enjoy the luxury of the bath, tossing the water over their shining backs, and arranging their plumage decorously, after which they disperse, each taking the direction of his accustomed quarters for the night.[1]

[Footnote 1:  A similar habit has been noticed in the damask Parrots of Africa (Palaeornis fuscus), which daily resort at the same hour to their accustomed water to bathe.]

During the storms which usher in the monsoon, it has been observed, that when coco-nut palms are struck by lightning, the destruction frequently extends beyond a single tree, and from the contiguity and conduction of the spreading leaves, or some other peculiar cause, large groups will be affected by a single flash, a few killed instantly, and the rest doomed to rapid decay.  In Belligam Bay, a little to the east of Point-de-Galle, a small island, which is covered with coco-nuts, has acquired the name of “Crow Island,” from being the resort of those birds, which are seen hastening towards it in thousands towards sunset.  A few years ago, during a violent storm of thunder, such was the destruction of the crows that the beach for some distance was covered with a black line of their remains, and the grove on which they had been resting was to a great extent destroyed by the same flash.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Similar instances are recorded in other countries of sudden mortality amongst crows to a prodigious extent, but whether occasioned by lightning seems uncertain.  In 1839 thirty-three thousand dead crows were found on the shores of a lake in the county Westmeath in Ireland after a storm.—­THOMPSON’S Nat.  Hist.  Ireland, vol. i. p. 319, and Patterson in his Zoology, p. 356, mentions other cases.]

III.  SCANSORES. Parroquets.—­Of the Psittacidae the only examples are the parroquets, of which the most renowned is the Palaeornis Alexandri, which has the historic distinction of bearing the name of the great conquerer of India, having been the first of its race introduced to the knowledge of Europe on the return of his expedition.  An idea of their number may be formed from the following statement of Mr. Layard, as to the multitudes which are found on the western coast.  “At Chilaw I have seen such vast flights of parroquets coming to roost in the coco-nut trees which overhang the bazaar, that their noise drowned the Babel of tongues bargaining for the evening provisions.  Hearing of the swarms which resorted to this spot, I posted myself on a bridge some half mile distant, and attempted to count the flocks which came from a single direction to the eastward.  About four o’clock in the afternoon, straggling parties began to wend towards home, and in the course of half an hour the current fairly set in.  But I soon found that I had no longer distinct flocks