W o o d -
I b i s .
thoufand drachma, or £-s~- 5• io. Samos polfibly was the next
place they were known at, where they were preferved about the
temple o f Juno, being birds facred to that goddefs: but their
life was afterwards permitted to mortals, for Gellius, in his
Nodies Attica, c. 16, commends the excellency of the Samian
peacocks.
Bu t they were known in Judaa many years before the days
of Alexander. The monarch, firft in all human wifdom, and
who fhined pre-eminently in the knowlege o f natural hiftory,
imported them in his Tbarjhijb navies, which made a three
years voyage to procure for Solomon the rich productions of the
Kail, and the objedls o f the itudy he fo. fondly cultivated. There
can be no doubt but that the birds imported were peacocks, not
^Ethiopian parrots', as has been conjectured, natives of a country
nearly bordering on the very fea from which his navies took
their departure. Apes, ebony, and fpices might have been
procured from Africa, on one hand, or Arabia on the other;
but peacocks and pretious itones, feem at all times the monopoly
o f India.
• F o w l . T he Habun Koekella, or wood-fowl, Ind. Zool. tab. vii. fecond
edition, is found near Colombo, but is not common. It is at
once diftinguiihed by its double ipurs: in lize it is equal to a
common fowl.
A mong the aquatic birds is the great white-headed Ibis, Ind.
Zool. tab. xi, which makes a fnapping noife with its bill; it lofes
its fine rofeate color in the rainy feafon. Allied to the wood
curlew o f the Arctic Zoology, ii. N° 360, a native of the Brajils,
and fouthern parts of North America.
In
In the Indian Zoology, tab. xiii. xiv, are engraven the wild
goofe and duck of Ceylon ; I refer to that work for their haunts
and hiftory.
T he Anhinga, tab. xv, clofes this brief ornithology. It is the A n h i n g a .
terror o f paiTengersit lurks in thick bullies by the water fide,
and, darting out its long and flender neck, terrifies them with
the idea of fome ferpent going to infliCl a mortal wound.
I w il l not attempt to enumerate the fifties of Ceylon', there Fisms.
do not feem to be any that are local. It appears to me, that thofe
of India fpread from at left the parallel of Cape Comorinj over
the vaft fea that comprehends the fpace from thence to the Molucca
ifles, fills the Bay. of Bengal, and furrounds the great ifles
which form the Indian Archipelago. In the courfe o f this
volume I. ihall point out thofe which, in form or colors, exhibit
the moft wonderful proofs of-the operations of nature.
I sh a l l here only mention the few which I received from
Sir Jofeph Banks- and Mr. Loten, as authenticated fpecies. The
firft is the tiger-ihark, Ind. Zool.- tab. xvi, fifteen feet long,
finely marked with white bands on a duiky ground, faid to feed
on ihells and cruflacea.
A Bali/les, the Kangewena of the Cingalefe, with one horn B a l i s t e s .
on the forehead \ it? grows to the length of two feet, and is
efteemed good eating.-
Balijles maculofus, or Pottoe bora, elegantly fpotted, alfo a'
good filh ; grows to the length o f fifteen inches.
Balijles truncatus, feemingly cut in two, like our Mola._
A Diodon, a fingular fpecies, armed with ihort ftrong ipines.
The Ikon Toetomba, or box-fiih of. the Malayans.
A VERY