During the storms which usher in the monsoon, it has been observed, that
when coco-nut palms are struck by lightning, the destruction frequently
extends beyond a single tree, and from the contiguity and conduction of
the spreading leaves, or some other peculiar cause, large groups will be
affected by a single flash, a few killed instantly, and the rest doomed
to rapid decay. In Belligam Bay, a little to the east of Point-de-Galle,
a small island, which is covered with coco-nuts, has acquired the name
of "Crow Island," from being the resort of those birds, which are seen
hastening towards it in thousands towards sunset. A few years ago,
during a violent storm of thunder, such was the destruction of the crows
that the beach for some distance was covered with a black line of their
remains, and the grove on which they had been resting was to a great
extent destroyed by the same flash.[1]

[Footnote 1: Similar instances are recorded in other countries of sudden
mortality amongst crows to a prodigious extent, but whether occasioned
by lightning seems uncertain. In 1839 thirty-three thousand dead crows
were found on the shores of a lake in the county Westmeath in Ireland
after a storm.--THOMPSON'S _Nat. Hist. Ireland_, vol. i. p. 319, and
Patterson in his Zoology, p. 356, mentions other cases.]

III. SCANSORES. _Parroquets_.--Of the Psittacidæ the only examples are
the parroquets, of which the most renowned is the _Palæornis Alexandri_,
which has the historic distinction of bearing the name of the great
conquerer of India, having been the first of its race introduced to the
knowledge of Europe on the return of his expedition. An idea of their
number may be formed from the following statement of Mr. Layard, as to
the multitudes which are found on the western coast. "At Chilaw I have
seen such vast flights of parroquets coming to roost in the coco-nut