Sabaragamuwa Province, Ceylon. 337 



preponderance in its favour. Thus, taking two extreme 

 points, at Kittulgalla, where the rainfall is over 200 inches, 

 it is unusual to find more than five species of Hawks ; on 

 the other side of the province, at Embelipitiye, more 

 than a dozen kinds will be found in a day. Again, instead 

 of taking the variation on an east-and-west line as above, let 

 us take a north-and-south direction, the former in the hill 

 or high-level countiy, and the south pole of observation in 

 the plains ; we shall find in the hills Zosterops ceylonensis, 

 Kelaartia penicillata,Elaphrornis palliseri, Parus atriceps, and 

 Myophoneus blighi as typical mountain-forms, while our south 

 pole of observation will take in at a glance HaUastur Indus, 

 Palceornis torquatus, Megalcema zeylanica, Zanclostomus 

 viridirostris, Caprimulgus asiaticus, Thamnobia fulicata, 

 Ixos luteolus, Rhipidura albifrontata, not to mention numbers 

 of more or less water-loving birds. So much for distribution 

 by altitude. This, however, is not the entire limit of varia- 

 tion, for while in some cases altitude and rainfall do in a 

 measure restrict the individual limits of distribution, as well 

 as reduce the variety of species, yet the position of the 

 country as a whole brings it within the scope of migration 

 of numbers of birds from the temperate zones of the earth 

 as well as of purely tropical migrants. 



I venture to think, therefore, that distribution is to be 

 looked for only among endemic species, and it is here only, so 

 far as my personal observations go, and these extend over the 

 last 16 years, that fixed areas of distribution can be found; 

 and this distribution is further reacted upon by other con- 

 ditions of environment, such as the presence or absence of 

 grass-lands, swamps, high forests, and bush-lands. 



Another very important factor in bird-distribution is the 

 influence of the monsoons. During the south-west monsoon 

 months that extend from the early part of May to the early 

 part of September, most of our migratory species are absent. 

 High winds prevail, and in parts of the province, especially 

 to the north-east, the whole of the vegetation of the country 

 is passing through a continuous period of unrest. Insects 

 are blown away to more sheltered spots, flowers are few, and 



