[Footnote 2: An epitome of what has been written on this subject will be found in _Dr. Horsfield's Catalogue_ of the Birds in the E.I. Comp. Museum, vol. i. p. 101, etc.] _Kingfishers_.--In solitary places, where no sound breaks the silence except the gurgle of the river as it sweeps round the rocks, the lonely Kingfisher sits upon an overhanging branch, his turquoise plumage hardly less intense in its lustre than the deep blue of the sky above him; and so intent is his watch upon the passing fish that intrusion fails to scare him from his post; the emblem of vigilance and patience. _Sun Birds_.--In the gardens the Sun Birds[1] (known as the Humming Birds of Ceylon) hover all day long, attracted by the plants over which they hang, poised on their glittering wings, and inserting their curved beaks to extract the tiny insects that nestle in the flowers. Perhaps the most graceful of the birds of Ceylon in form and motions, and the most chaste in colouring, is that which Europeans call "the Bird of Paradise,"[2] and the natives "the Cotton Thief," from the circumstance that its tail consists of two long white feathers, which stream behind it as it flies, Mr. Layard says:--"I have often watched them, when seeking their insect prey, turn suddenly on their perch and _whisk their long tails with a jerk_ over the bough, as if to protect them from injury." [Footnote 1: Nectarina Zeylanica, _Linn_.] [Footnote 2: Tchitrea paradisi, _Linn_.] _The Bulbul_.--The _Condatchee Bulbul_[1], which, from the crest on its head, is called by the Singhalese the "Konda Coorola," or _Tuft bird_, is regarded by the natives as the most "_game_" of all birds; and the training it to fight was one of the duties entrusted by the Kings of Kandy to the Kooroowa, or Bird Head-man. For this purpose the Bulbul is taken from the nest as soon as the sex is distinguishable by the tufted crown; and being secured by a string, is taught to fly from hand to hand of its keeper. When pitted against an antagonist, such is the obstinate courage of this little creature that it will sink from exhaustion rather than release its hold. This propensity, and the ordinary character of its notes, render it impossible that the Bulbul of India can be identical with the Bulbul of Iran, the "Bird of a Thousand Songs,"[2] of which poets say that its delicate passion for the rose gives a plaintive character to its note. [Footnote 1: Pycnonotus hæmorrhous, _Gmel_.] [Footnote 2: _"Hazardasitaum,"_ the Persian name for the bulbul. "The Persians," according to Zakary ben Mohamed al Caswini, "say the bulbul has a passion for the rose, and laments and cries when he sees it pulled."--OUSELEY'S _Oriental Collections_, vol. i. p. 16. According to Pallas it is the true nightingale of Europe, Sylvia luscinia, which the Armenians call _boulboul_, and the Crim-Tartars _byl-byl-i_.]