128 Letters, Announcements, l^-c. 



and back^ and a few chocolate- coloured immature signs on 

 the thigh-coverts and under wing-coverts. The wing mea- 

 sured 14"5 inches; another Ceylon-killed specimen in my 

 collection has the wing the same length. 



I have just returned from a tour through the "park'' 

 country of the eastern province and the eastern slopes of the 

 mountain-zone. As regards the distribution of our species, 

 the latter district presents very remarkable features, owing to 

 the mountains being bare and rising up immediately from 

 the low country (which is, itself, intersected by innumerable 

 hills, based on a low level), without a barrier of forest as on 

 the western side ; the consequence is, that low-country 

 birds range all through Madoolseema and Uva"^ to great al- 

 titudes, and some hill-birds range down into the low country. 

 PalcBornis calthropce is abundant in the " park " country at 400 

 feet; elevation ; Xantholama indica ranges up to 3000 or 

 4000 feet, Buchanga ccerulescens the same, Picus mahrat- 

 tensis up to 3000, and so on. This Barbet and Drongo are 

 the species of the eastern province. But more of all this 

 anon. I am, dear Sir, 



Faithfully yours, 

 Trincomalie, Ceylon. W. V. Legge, Capt. R.A. 



8th November, 1875. 



P.S. There is a misprint in the last volume of 'The Ibis,' 

 p. 283, where the length of the wing of Chrysocolaptes fes- 

 tivus is given as 2*8 instead of 5*8. 



Sir, — In a letter to me, dated Nov. 16th, 1875, Heligo- 

 land, Mr. Gatke observes : — " This fall has been ' awfully 

 bad,' nothing but storms from all quarters, with cold down- 

 pours. The last autumn was bad, but this one infinitely 

 worse : all I got is a fine specimen of Emberiza rustica, an 

 E. pusilla, also a Muscicapa parva ; Woodcocks, Thrushes, 

 and Blackbirds scarcely any." 



Mr. Gatke also remarks that, on running up all notes about 

 Phylloscopus superciliosus, he finds some fifty have undoubt- 

 edly been seen, and of these about twenty captured, since Oc- 



* Our two eastern cofFee-districts. 



