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SKETCHES

OF THE

NATURAL HISTORY OF CEYLON

WITH

NARRATIVES AND ANECDOTES

Illustrative of the Habits and Instincts of the

MAMMALIA, BIRDS, REPTILES, FISHES, INSECTS, &c.

INCLUDING A MONOGRAPH OF

THE ELEPHANT

AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE MODES OF CAPTURING AND TRAININGIT

WITH ENGRAVINGS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS

BY

SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT, K.C.S. LL.D. &c.

1861

INTRODUCTION.

A considerable portion of the contents of the present volumeformed the zoological section of a much more comprehensive workrecently published, on the history and present condition ofCeylon.¹ But its inclusion there was a matterof difficulty; for to have altogether omitted the chapters onNatural History would have impaired the completeness of the plan onwhich I had attempted to describe the island; whilst to insert themas they here appear, without curtailment, would have encroachedunduly on the space required for other essential topics. In thisdilemma, I was obliged to adopt the alternative of so condensingthe matter as to bring the whole within the prescribedproportions.

But this operation necessarily diminished the general interestof the subjects treated, as well by the omission of incidents whichwould otherwise have been retained, as by the exclusion ofanecdotes calculated to illustrate the habits and instincts of theanimals described.

A suggestion to re-publish these sections in an independent formhas afforded an opportunity for repairing some of these defects byrevising the entire, restoring omitted passages, and introducingfresh materials collected in Ceylon; the additional matteroccupying a very large portion of the present volume.

I have been enabled, at the same time, to avail myself of thecorrections and communications of scientific friends; and thus tocompensate, in some degree for what is still incomplete, byincreased accuracy in minute particulars.

In the Introduction to the First Edition of the original work Ialluded, in the following terms, to that portion of it which is nowreproduced in an extended form:—

"Regarding the fauna of Ceylon, little has been publishedin any collective form, with the exception of a volume by Dr.KELAART entitled Prodromus Faunæ Zeilanicæ;several valuable papers by Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD in the Annals andMagazine of Natural History for 1852 and 1853; and some veryimperfect lists appended to PRIDHAM'S compiled account of theisland.² KNOX, in the charming narrative ofhis captivity, published in the feign of Charles II., has devoted achapter to the animals of Ceylon, and Dr. DAVY has described someof the reptiles: but with these exceptions the subject is almostuntouched in works relating to the colony. Yet a more than ordinaryinterest attaches to the inquiry, since Ceylon, instead ofpresenting, as is generally assumed, an identity between itsfauna and that of Southern India, exhibits a remarkablediversity, taken in connection with the limited area over which theanimals included in it are distributed. The island, in fact, may beregarded as the centre of a geographical circle, possessing withinitself forms, whose allied species radiate far into the temperateregions of the north, as well as in to Africa, Australia, and theisles of the Eastern Archipelago.

"In the chapters that I have devoted to its elucidation, I haveendeavoured to interest others in the subject, by describing my ownobservations and impressions, with fidelity, and with as muchaccuracy as may be expected from a person possessing, as I do, nogreater knowledge of zoology and the other physical sciences thanis ordinarily possessed by any educated gentleman. It was my goodfortune, however, in my journeys to have the companionship offriends familiar with many branches of natural science: the lateDr. GARDNER, Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD, an accomplished zoologist, Dr.TEMPLETON, and others; and I was thus enabled to collect on thespot many interesting facts relative to the structure and habits ofthe numerous tribes. These, chastened by the corrections of myfellow-travellers, and established by the examination ofcollections made in the colony, and by subsequent comparison withspecimens contained in museums at home, I have ventured to submitas faithful outlines of the fauna of Ceylon.

"The sections descriptive of the several classes are accompaniedby lists, prepared with the assistance of scientific friends,showing the extent to which each particular branch had been