410 Lieut. W. V. Legge on the Birds of the 



As to the species, Mr. Holdsworth notices : — 



CrtRYSOCOLAPTES STRICKLANDI. 



Has hitlicrto been erroneously considered a hill-bird ; it is 

 no more so than Brachypternus ceylonus, Avliich I have found 

 all through the northern and western coffee-districts up to 

 5500 feet. For evidence of C stricklandi in the low country, 

 vide 'Stray Feathers' (vol. i. p. 346, and vol. iii. p. 200). 

 It is resident all round the north-east, east, and south-east 

 coasts in wild country during the N.E. monsoon, when, if it 

 were a visitor to the low country, it ought to be absent from 

 these parts. The specimen Mr. Holdsworth alludes to (p. 123) 

 was shot on the south-east coast in March. 



uEmyias sordida. 



zosterops ceylonensis. 



Shot and observed in July and August in the Kookool 

 Korle and in the Oodogarame forests^ in May, or, in both 

 cases, during the S.W. monsoon, when, if they were not 

 resident, they would have been absent from that region. But, 

 in truth, I may here again remark that the mountains of 

 Southern Ceylon (Ibis, 1874, p. 7) are a distinct zone, sepa- 

 rated from the high central province by a valley of low 

 country, running through from the Ratnapoora district to the 

 plains of the south-east, and that there is probably no inter- 

 change of species between them and the high region of the 

 island ; for the vast forests and deep valleys running out of 

 our district towards the north-east, form an ample abri against 

 the violence of the S.W. monsoon. 



Drymocataphus fuscicapillus. 



Perhaps I should have used the words '' most commonly dis- 

 tributed " instead of " commonest "; I did not mean to imply 

 that it was the most numerous of birds in the southern pro- 

 vince, and imagined that my description of its habits and of 

 the places I found it in, would have militated against the 

 idea of its being abundant. D. fuscicapillus, though common 

 in a district, will only be found in peculiar localities, such as 



* Z. eet/lonensis only. 



