DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN CEYLON. 13 
The Swallows with their migratory habits and powers of 
flight would not seem likely to furnish us with a peculiar 
species, but of the four species of Hirundo which occur within 
our limits, one, Hirundo huyperythra—the Ceylon Swallow 
does not occur elsewhere, though found nearly all over the 
Island; and another, Hirwndo javanica—the Nilgiri House 
Swallow—is really a Malayan bird found within the limits of 
the Indian Empire only on the hills of Ceylon and Malabar. 
The Motacillide, which include the Wagtails and Pipits, 
are largely migrant birds, and those species which are resident 
with us are found over the greater part of India. The same 
remark applies to the Larks, of which we have only three 
species. One of these, Pyrrulanda grisea—the Ashy-crowned 
Finch Lark—though found nearly throughout India, in Ceylon 
is confined te the dry coast districts. 
Of the dainty little Sunbirds—Nectariniide—we have four 
species, all belonging to the genus Arachnechthra. A. minima, 
a Malabar species, has been found only once or twice in 
Ceylon, and the others are found throughout a large part 
of the Indian Peninsula. 
The equally small Dicewid#—Flower-peckers—contain one 
species worthy of note. 
Acmonorhyncus vincens, long known as Pachyglossa vincens— 
Legge’s Flower-pecker—is one of our few Himalayan relicts. 
Its nearest relative, Pachyglossa melanoxantha, occurs in 
Sikkim and Nepaul. Our species has retreated, not to the 
hills, but to the deep forests in the wettest zone of the low- 
country between Adam’s Peak and the sea. 
The sole Ceylon representative of the Pittide, or Painted 
Thrushes, is with us a migrant. 
Turning from the enormous order of the Passerine birds, we 
now come to the Pici—Woodpeckers—an order of which the 
distribution in Ceylon is full of interest, as it appears to 
illustrate in a most striking manner an older Malabar element 
and a more recent Carnatic invasion. They are birds of 
heavy build and weak powers of flight, so that they are not 
fitted of their own accord to cross any but the narrowest 
stretches of water, nor are they likely to be storm-driven for any 
great distance. Their means of dispersal, therefore, are limited. 

