Question of the value of labour of an elephant Food in captivity, and cost Breed in captivity Age Theory of M. Fleurens No dead elephants found Sindbad's story Passage from Ælian CHAP. VIII. BIRDS. Their numbers Songsters Hornbills, the "bird with two heads" Pea fowl Sea birds, their number I. _Accipitres_.--Eagles Falcons and hawks Owls--the devil bird II. _Passeres_.--Swallows Kingfishers--sunbirds The cotton-thief Bul-bul--tailor bird--and weaver The mountain jay Crows, anecdotes of III. _Scansores_.--Parroquets IV. _Columbidæ_.--Pigeons V. _Gallinæ_.--Jungle-fowl VI. _Grallæ_.--Ibis, stork, &c. VII. _Anseres_.--Flamingoes Pelicans Strange scene Game--Partridges, &c. List of Ceylon birds List of birds peculiar to Ceylon CHAP. IX. REPTILES. _Lizards_.--Iguana Kabara-goya, barbarous custom in preparing the kabara-tel poison Blood-suckers The green calotes The lyre-headed lizard Chameleon Ceratophora Geckoes,--their power of reproducing limbs Crocodiles Their sensitiveness to tickling Anecdotes of crocodiles Their power of burying themselves in the mud _Tortoises_.--Curious parasite Terrapins Edible turtle Cruel mode of cutting it up alive Huge Indian tortoises (_note_) Hawk's-bill turtle, barbarous mode of stripping it of the tortoise-shell _Serpents_.--Venomous species rare Tic polonga and carawala Cobra de capello Tame snakes (_note_) Anecdotes of the cobra de capello Legends concerning it Instance of land snakes found at sea Singular tradition regarding the robra de capello Uropeltidæ.--New species discovered in Ceylon Buddhist veneration for the cobra de capello The Python Tree snakes Water snakes Sea snakes Snake stones Analysis of one Cæcilia Frogs Tree frogs List of Ceylon reptiles CHAP. X. FISHES. Ichthyology of Ceylon, little known Fish for table, seir fish Sardines, poisonous? Sharks Saw-fish Fish of brilliant colours The ray The sword-fish Curious fish described by Ælian _Salarias alticus_ Beautifully coloured fishes Fresh-water fish, little known,--not much eaten Fresh-water fish in Colombo Lake Perches Eels Immense profusion of fish in the rivers and lakes Their re-appearance after rain Mode of fishing in the ponds Showers of fish Conjecture that the ova are preserved, not tenable Fish moving on dry land Ancient authorities, Greek and Roman Aristotle and Theophrastus Athenæus and Polybius Livy, Pompomus, Mela, and Juvenal Seneca and Pliny Georgius Agricola, Gesner, &c. Instances in Guiana (_note_) _Perca Scandens_, ascends trees Doubts as to the story of Daldorf