312 - Mr. Blytb ua Ceylon Ornithology. 



stomus) ] while among the numerous species peculiar to the 

 peninsula of India with Ceylon the only restricted generic form 

 is Ochromela, which is common to the grassy summits of the 

 Nilgiris and the most elevated parts of the island. It will be 

 remarked that nearly all of the peculiarly Cinghalese species be- 

 long (as might be expected) to the mountainous portion of the 

 island, the Jungle-fowl being the most striking exception ; while 

 certain others are specially common to the mountains of Ceylon 

 and those of Southern India (more especially the Malabar ghats), 

 increasing in number southward. The small Chat-flycatcher 

 {Ochromela nigrorufa) already noticed is a remarkable instance, 

 as keeping to the highest altitudes exclusively ; and the same is 

 likely to prove true of the fine large Nilgiri Tree-Pipit {Pi- 

 pastes montanus), which does not yet appear to have been ob- 

 served in Ceylon. That Myiophonus horsfieldi (or a specialized 

 representative of this bird) has not been observed in the island 

 is worthy of notice; but I have before expressed an opinion 

 that the higher regions of Ceylon have not yet been sufficiently 

 explored, nor the southernmost hill-districts of the mainland of 

 India. Still a Myiophonus is not at all a likely bird to have 

 been overlooked ; nor a Bulbul of the division Otocompsa, repre- 

 sentative of O.jocosa, which is so conspicuous an inhabitant of 

 the mainland of India generally south of the Himalaya. 



Further Addenda to the Commentary on Dr. Jerdon's 

 ' Birds of India ' *. 



79. Athene cuculoides. 



Mr. Gurney has called my attention to certain distinctions 

 observable in a Japanese race supposed hitherto to be this species. 

 The tail has only six narrow white bars, one terminal and 

 another of them at the extreme base of the feathers, so that four 

 only remain to constitute the conspicuous barring of the rec- 

 trices ; the markings of the wing-primaries and secondaries are 

 also fewer and further apart than in the common Himalayan 

 bird. In India the latter is quite peculiar to the Himalaya, 

 whereas in Burma the race considered hitherto as identical 



* J'ide anicrt, pp. 183-185. 



