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Show 1866.] LETTER FROM LIEUT. R. C. BEAVAN. 3 " The foot of the hill, or talus, is covered with a dense jungle of bamboos, grass, and forest trees (some of immense height), with clear streams running through it to the plain below. Above this the rock in places is quite perpendicular ; and although vegetation in Burmah manages to cover places apparently so, here and there the rock was bare, where even a moss or lichen could scarcely get a footing. Wherever not quite a wall, the rock was covered with creepers and bushes, and the gullies or small watercourses actually produced trees of large size. " The heat near the top, which is covered with high grass, was very great, the radiation from the black rocks making it more severe; and at this time of the year, just after the rains, the power of the sun is unusually great. Zwagaben, more popularly known by the name of the ' Duke of York's nose,' from its appearance as seen from Moulmein, is mentioned by Mason in his work ' On Burmah,' edit. 1860, as the hill on which the ark is said to have rested (by the Karens) after the deluge. A similar tradition of the Lepchas is quoted at Darjeeling with reference to a hill in that neighbourhood, ' Tendong,' but in both instances is doubtless an idea originally conceived from missionary teaching. " Halfway up, near the poongye house, I procured specimens of a Pericrocotus-a male in scarlet plumage, probably P. brevirostris ; that curious Nuthatch, Bendrophila frontalis; a small robin-like bird, apparently a Shortwing, Brachypteryx, sp. ; Rubigula flavi-ventris, Tick. ; a Phyllornis, near P. jerdoni, but differing slightly (P. cochinchinensisl); a dark-olive-brown Pycnonotus (?), and a curious little Erythrosterna, perhaps E. acornaus, Hodgs. " Near the top I got a specimen of Petrocossyphns cyaneus with remarkably rufous under tail-coverts, and I saw another on the ironwork of the pagoda at the top. The only other birds seen there were a small flock of a species of the genus Prinia, in the long grass, and some Swallows and Swifts overhead, besides an occasional Vulture (Gyps indicus) soaring several feet below us. Adjutants do not appear to frequent Zwagaben or to breed there, as they do on the other limestone hills in the vicinity. The rocks they nest on are no doubt inaccessible to any but an expert native, who uses his toes like fingers, and can swarm up anything, especially one of these hill-Karens. According to all accounts Adjutants' eggs are very difficult to procure. I have tried in vain since I came to Burmah to get hold of some, and hear that Dr. Squire tried too without success. The top of Zwagaben is the only known locality for that rare little fern, Adiantum parishii, which I had the pleasure of gathering myself, guided to the spot, only a few yards square, of course by Mr. Parish himself. About the Karen fortress (Don-gyany), mentioned by Mason, distant only a few miles, is found that rare orchid, Phalcenopsis lowii, of which Mr. Parish succeeded in getting a good supply in flower. The only Crow seen at the foot of the hill was Corvus culminatus. C. splendens appears to avoid the jungles altogether. About the bottom I found the large Rocket-tailed Drongo (Edoliusparadiseus) tolerably common. The Shama |
