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INTRODUCTION.

* * * * *

A considerable portion of the contents of the present volume formed the
zoological section of a much more comprehensive work recently published,
on the history and present condition of Ceylon.[1] But its inclusion
there was a matter of difficulty; for to have altogether omitted the
chapters on Natural History would have impaired the completeness of the
plan on which I had attempted to describe the island; whilst to insert
them as they here appear, without curtailment, would have encroached
unduly on the space required for other essential topics. In this
dilemma, I was obliged to adopt the alternative of so condensing the
matter as to bring the whole within the prescribed proportions.

But this operation necessarily diminished the general interest of the
subjects treated, as well by the omission of incidents which would
otherwise have been retained, as by the exclusion of anecdotes
calculated to illustrate the habits and instincts of the animals
described.

[Footnote 1: _Ceylon: An Account of the Island, Physical, Historical,
and Typographical; with Notices of its Natural History, Antiquities, and
Productions._ By Sir JAMES EMERSON TENNENT, K.C.S., LL.D., &c.
Illustrated by Maps. Plans, and Drawings. 2 vols. 8vo. Longman and Co.,
1859.]