SCC ELEPHANT.
Camels ate bred in that part of the 1)•lt• of the Indus which is nearest the sea. On the sea beach and sandy slips in that part of Guzerat which is separated by the thuin land by' the Run, they' are suffered to run wild among the jungles, the tender parts of the brushwood ser% Mg them for food ; they are, however, of an inferior The camel is not un•requeut about Patna ; they are II/ ployed by the British government in carrying military stores, Stc. See CAMEL.
Notwithstanding the positive opinion of Mr. Pennant, that the bon is met with near the fort of Gwalior, in the province of Agra, it is generally believed by naturalists •tnd travellers, that this animal is not a native of Hin dostan. " The royal tiger of Bengal, however, is a far more terrible animal than the stoutest lion, and was known in classical times, as Seneca, the poet, calls it Gangetica tigris, or the Gangetic tiger. Such is their size and strength, that they arc said to carry off bullocks ; the height of some being said to be five feet, and the length in pro portion. Parties of pleasure on the isles at the mouths of the Ganges have often been shockingly interrupted by the sudden appearance of the tiger, prepared for his fatal spring-, which is said to extend to a hundred feet ;—not im probable, when compared with that of the cat. Such is the nature of the animal, that if disappointed in his first leap, he couches his tail and retires." In the northern district of Coitnbetoor, there are a great number of black bears, which, however, are very inoffensive, lking chiefly on the white ants, and the fruit of the pal mvra. Near Chittagong there is a species of bear which is called there the wild dog. " His bead is shaped like that of a dog, but bare and red about the muzzle ; his paws are like those of the common bear, hut his coat is short and smooth."—Graham's Journal, p. 143. This animal is very ferocious, and will not eat any kind of vegetable food. The one-horned rhinoceros is not uncommon in the islands of the Ganges. Antelopes, especially that species called the Nylgau, are numerous, and of a large size ; the hunt ing of them by the leopard is a favourite sport among the Indian princes. Tippoo was very fond• of it. Apes and monkies are common ; and it is said, but not on very good authority, that the ourang-outang exists in the forests to the west of the northern Circars. The other quadrupeds are, dogs of the cur kind, with sharp, erect ears, and point ed noses ; boars, wolves, foxes, jackalls, hyaenas, panthers, lynxes, Etc. The moschus, moschife•us, or musk-deer, is an inhabitant of the mountains which lie on the north of Hindostan; but the musk that is brought from Bengal is of an inferior kind to that which comes from China.
The birds of India are very various, and some of them uncommonly beautiful. This is the native country of the peacock, where they exist in abundance, in almost every part, in a wild state, and are much larger, and produce a greater number of eggs; proofs that in India they are in their natural climate. They lay twenty' or thirty eggs in the course of the year. Near Cambay, and in different parts of the province of Malabar, they are particularly abundant. At the first mentioned place they are caught in a very simple and singular manner. A piece of can vass, on which are painted the figures of peacocks, and to which are attached two lighted candles, is affixed, during the night, to the tree on which they are perched ; and the birds, being either deceived by the figures, or dazzled by the light, stretch out their re•cks towards the canvass, and are caught in a noose which tire concealed bird-catcher holds. The historians of Alexander locution the delight
and surprise with which that conqueror first beheld the peacock, and that lie forbade them to be killed under very severe penalties.
There are few birds, natives of India, so remarkable, and which have excited so strongly the attention of natur alists, as the gross-beak, (Loxia he olomari of the Mal:that's. It is described in toe Asiatic Researches, by liar Ali Khan of Delhi, as "rather larger than a sparrow, with yellow In own plumage, a yellowish head and feet, and light coloured breast, and a beak, very' thick in proportion to its body." They el.:, fly frequent the cocoa nut trees, or the palmyra and 11;aan fig, being evidently partial to a lofty site for its nest." This bird constructs its . nest in a very curious way, with the long fibres of plants or dry grass, and suspends it by means of a kind of cord near ly hall an ell in length, from the extremity of an extremely slender branch of the tree, in order that it may be inacces sible to snakes and other animals, which might destroy its eggs or its young. This hanging nest, though agitated by the wind, is so strongly secured, that it never suffers the least injury. The interior part of it consists of three neat apartments or divisions. The first, which forms the fore part, is occupied by the male ; the second is destined for the female ; and the third contains the young. In the first apartment, where the male always keeps watch while the female is hatching the eggs, a little tough clay is ah% found stuck against one side of it ; and in the top of this clay is a glow-worm. Bartolomeo, from whom this ac count is taken, thinks that the glow-worm serves to afford light in the night time ; but it seems much more proba ble that the bird feeds on these insects. This bird is much valued in Hindostan for its docility, and attachment to those who domesticate it. The common fowl is found in the jungles, and is called the jungle bird ; and the wild cock, the leathers of which are of various colours, and shine like gold, is found in the Ghauts and the adjacent forests. The Pelicanus onochrotalus, or large Asiatic pelican, is found in Malabar. This province is also the native country of what are called the :\.1 alabar bat, Vespertilio vampyrus, or caninus, and which seem to differ from the varnpyre bat of Surinam. The Gracula religiosa, which are common in the districts adjoining the Ghauts, is a bird held in considerable esteem by the natives on account of its song ; its body is quite black, and its head is covered with a hood of a bright yel low colour. This bird is called Mina by the natives, and is often seen with the kokola and other birds of song, toge ther with a bird as small as the humming bird, which fixes its nest to the pointed tips of the palmyra, to secure its young from the tree snake, in the gardens in the vicinity of Bombay and other towns. The Eigrus, the largest of aquatic birds, is found among the lakes in the north of Hin dostan Proper, where it is kept by the natives in their gar dens, for the purpose of picking up the vermin. Parrots, of almost all the varieties with respect to size and colour, abound in Hindostan.