Footnote 2624: [(return)]
Querquedula creeca, Linn.
Footnote 2625: [(return)]
Fuligula rufina, Pallas.
Footnote 2626: [(return)]
Spatula clypeata, Linn.
Footnote 2627: [(return)]
Sterna minuta, Linn.
Footnote 2628: [(return)]
Pelicanus Philippensis, Gmel.
CHAP. IX.
REPTILES.
LIZARDS. Iguana.—One of the earliest, if not the first remarkable animal to startle a stranger on arriving in Ceylon, whilst wending his way from Point-de-Galle to Colombo, is a huge lizard of from four to five feet in length, the Talla-goyā of the Singhalese, and Iguana[2711] of the Europeans. It may be seen at noonday searching for ants and insects in the middle of the highway and along the fences; when disturbed, but by no means alarmed, by the approach of man, it moves off to a safe distance; and, the intrusion being at an end, it returns again to the occupation in which it had been interrupted. Repulsive as it is in appearance, it is perfectly harmless, and is hunted down by dogs in the maritime provinces, and its delicate flesh, which is believed to be a specific in dysentery, is converted into curry, and its skin into shoes. When seized, it has the power of inflicting a smart blow with its tail. The Talla-goyā lives in almost any convenient hollow, such as a hole in the ground, or a deserted nest of the termites; and some small ones, which frequented my garden at Colombo, made their retreat in the heart of a decayed tree.