Sabaragamuwa Province, Ceylon. 345 



Kandy, and probably resorts to the damp forests about that 

 locality. 



The rich, soft plumage of this bird is very beautiful and 

 striking. 



PSITTACI. 



22. Pal^eornis eupatrius (Legge, B. of C. p. 168). 

 Confined to the dry zone and found in greater abundance 



the nearer one gets to the E. and S.E. limits of the province. 

 It may often be found near the foot of the hills in the 

 interior, but then it occurs as a straggler. 



23. PALiEORNis TORQUATus Boddacrt (Legge, B. of C. 

 p. 171). 



One of the favourite cage-birds of the country. The 

 Singalese are particularly fond of this bird, and there is 

 hardly a town in the province where it may not be found as 

 one of the domestic animals of one or more households. It 

 is met with in the wild state in vast numbers in the dry zone, 

 and one district on the borders of Sabaragamuwa is called 

 the " Girrawa Pattu,^' or Parrot " Pattu,'^ owing to the 

 presence of these birds. It breeds in large, high trees, in 

 holes in the trunk or branches, laying four or five white 

 eggs. The eggs are free from any gloss, and look more or 

 less chalky. 



24. PALiEORNIS CYANOCEPHALUS (LcggC, B. of C. p. 174). 



This very beautiful Parrot takes up a more intermediate 

 distribution, being most common between the very wet and 

 very dry zones, and may often be found in the open country 

 at very high altitudes. It is not, strictly speaking, a forest 

 species, and aff'ects districts where most of the land is open, 

 breeding in solitary trees. After the S.W. monsoon is past 

 it spreads up into the tea-districts, where it may often be 

 met with in small noisy flocks of six or eight birds. 



25. PaL^ORNIS CALTHROPiE (Lcggc, B. of C. p. 177, pi. vi. 



fig.l); 



An indigenous species and more distinctly confined to the 

 wet zone and damp forests, but I have occasionally met with 



