Birds in Southern Ceylon. 31 



vvorks " winter " plumage : such a term would be puzzling 

 here, however ; for this dress, the non-breeding garb, is worn 

 in Ceylon from May until the latter part of the last-named 

 month ; so that the breeding-di'ess is the winter and the oppo- 

 site the summer dress. This species is wonderfully numerous 

 on the northern tanks in the " Wanny " district, theu* musical 

 notes resounding all day and all night long through the pic- 

 turesque forests on their borders. These sounds are essentially" 

 typical of the wild regions in the northern forests of this 

 island, and must always associate themselves in the mind of 

 the naturalist with his wanderings in Ceylon. Porphyria 

 poliocephalus is rare on the lagoons of the south ; and now and 

 then GaUicrex cristata falls to the gun of the sportsman in 

 the paddy-fields. This latter bird appears to be migrating to 

 the south of Ceylon, coming down with the north-east mon- 

 soon in October, and leaving in April. As yet I have not been 

 able to meet with it during the remaining portion of the year. 

 The Rails of Ceylon must either be very rare or very difficult 

 to find in districts which they do affect. I am inclined to 

 think they are also very local in their distribution, as it is 

 somewhat noteworthy that Layard, who looked through the 

 island so well, only met with the three rarest species [Porzana 

 fusca, P.pygmcea, and Rallus indicus) in one locality, near Co- 

 lombo. I have not seen any examples of any of these birds 

 from this part, though one, or all, may yet be found in the 

 marshy districts of Matura. Anastomus oscitans, the only Ibis 

 in this corner of the island, is found on Amblangodde Lake, 

 twenty miles north of Galle, where there is a tolerably large 

 colony. They breed there, I imagine, as I have seen and 

 shot them on the lake very soon after the breeding-season. 

 Who will be the discerning individual destined to settle the 

 much- vexed question of the peculiar worn space in the bill ? 

 I do not see how it is to be done while there is such strong 

 difference of opinion, some asserting that it does not exist in 

 the young bird and others denying this. My own experience 

 points decidedly to the former theory. I secured a young 

 bird, some four or five months old, from the western pro- 

 vince, a district which, by the way, it does not affect in 



