420 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



wilder parts of Ceylon, near Kandy, I noted several interesting 

 birds ; among others, Pitta brachyura, Chalcophaps indica, Pala- 

 ornis calthroptB, and Hirundo hyperythra, Layard. The two last 

 are, I believe, peculiar to the Kandian district. The Red-breasted 

 Svi^allows bear to H. daiirica the same relationship that H. catri- 

 rica of Cairo does to H. domestica. In habits and notes they are 

 very similar to their ally. 1 also saw the Lanius lucionensis of 

 Ceylon. It uttered the same chattering note as our Chinese 

 bird. 



At Colombo there is an Asiatic Society, which makes reports 

 and corresponds with the mother institution at home and the 

 various branch institutions abroad. I sought for its museum. 

 One small room held library, museum, and other belongings of 

 the Society. There were a few books, a few specimens of manu- 

 factures, a few rocks and fossils, a very few reptiles and fishes 

 in bottles in poor condition, a few wretched mammals, and 

 a few dozen dreadful specimens of birds. I looked through 

 the whole of the latter, most of which were moth-eaten and 

 tumbling to pieces. Numbers of them bore paper labels in 

 Blyth's well-known handwriting. Among them I discovered 

 one that interested me; it was a specimen of Tringa al- 

 bescens, Temm., with reddish on the back and a little on the 

 breast. It was labelled T. minuta, with which last species both 

 this and the T. damacensis appear long to have been confounded. 

 T. damacensis, Horsf. {T. subminuta, Midd.), we have shown to 

 be a regular winter visitant to the east coast of India ; and the 

 discovery of this specimen proves that to Ceylon at least this 

 little North-China bird extends its winter wanderings. I turned 

 from this museum in disgust, and asked the peon (porter) to 

 show me the other, or Military Medical Museum, of which he 

 also had charge. He led me to the back of one of the chief 

 streets, and, through a strong door, conducted me into a place 

 which must have served the Dutch for a prison in former days. 

 The museum was contained in two rooms, one placed at right 

 angles to the other, in a T-form. The collection here was much 

 finer, but sadly neglected. There was a goodly series of well- 

 prepared skeletons, especially of mammals, a skull and part 

 skeleton of a Balcenoptera (Rorqual Whale), and a large entire 



