22 Lieut. W. V. Lcggc on the Distribution of 



va/idus is l)lack, with a lightish basc^ of veiy small extent, to 

 the under mandible ; and a very noticeable peculiarity or cha- 

 racteristic is, that the margin is well curved and the culmen 

 much hooked, "while that of D. jerdoni has a gentle sweep 

 from base to tip. The larger bird is found in the " Koora- 

 kan" {Eleusine indica) fields of the Singha-Rajah hills, and 

 delights in sitting on some stump or fallen tree, from -which 

 it pours forth its loud shrill notes and draws attention to its 

 existence in these mountain-solitudes ; it is not, however, 

 peculiar to the southern hills, as I have shot it in the 

 '' Knuckles "^, where it is always to be seen in " hill " paddy- 

 fields. Phylloscojjus nitidiis is a winter visitor to these parts 

 as well as to the western and central provinces ; and I have 

 no doubt that P. magnirostris, which I have procured in Dim- 

 boola and also in forests of the north-east, accompanies its 

 smaller congener to our hills. Of MotacilliuEe, we have in 

 the south Calobates sidphurea, found along the sea-coast, af- 

 fecting at times the very rocks in the vicinity of Gallc, before 

 betaking itself in September to the mountain-streams of the 

 interior, and Budytes viridis, very nvimerous in grass-lands 

 and new ly ploughed paddy-fields, in one " square " of which 

 I have counted nearly a score. Corydalla rufula is our only 

 Pipit, the other two species apparently not extending to the 

 south. 



Zosterops palpebrosus is plentiful both in the low and hill 

 country ; and Holdsworth^s species, Z. ceylonensts, is veiy nu- 

 merous in the Singha-Rajah forests. I might mention that 

 this range of hills, lying about forty miles from Gallc, attain- 

 ing a height of about 3500 feet, and hitherto unexplored by 

 any European save one f, appears to abound with all the pe- 

 culiar Ceylonese birds. I found Z. ceylonensis there, as I did 

 in the forests of the Knuckles, to the north of Kandy (see note. 

 Journal R. A. S. (Ceylon), 1871, page 30), in large flocks af- 

 fecting the ends of outspreading branches of forest-trees, cling- 

 ing to the twigs and leaves thereof, and keeping up an inces- 

 sant chirping ; after one tree had been w^ell searched, the 



* Moimtains to the north of Kandy. 



t Dr. Tlnvaites, director of the the bolauieal trardens, Peradeniva. 



