DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN CEYLON. 31 
Then came upheaval (possibly in two stages), which resulted in 
the land standing at a higher level, in relation to the sea, than 
it does to-day. Then subsidence again set in. 
I have not sufficient evidence to enable me to state with 
certainty that this is the true explanation of the facts. It is the 
attitude which I feel justified in adopting at present. 
It is only fair to state, however, that the Principal Mineral 
Surveyor does not agree with me in attributing the high level 
gravels to subsidence of the land. He believes that they have 
been left high and dry by the river, which has cut its way deeper 
since the days when the gravels were deposited. 
Personally I believe that these movements have taken place 
within human times, as I have recently discovered what I maintain 
to be (and in this Mr. Hartley corroborates my view) artefacts of 
stone in some of the highest gravels. 
I believe that Mr. Wayland intends to follow up the subject, 
and will in due course give us his conclusions formed on a more 
complete investigation. On the zoo-geographical side, the 
recent collection of mammals made in the Island by Major 
Mayor, on behalf of the Bombay Natural History Society, 
should afford most magnificent materiai for examination, 
especially as it will link up with similar work throughout 
India. Unfortunately Major Mayor has left the Island 
before visiting the Northern and North-Western Provinces, 
the very districts most vital to my theory. It is to be hoped 
that he will return and complete the work which has thus been 
left unfinished. 
If the distribution of mammals agrees with that of the birds, 
I would suggest the following modification of Blanford’s 
z00-geographical tracts. 
Instead of his Southern Hill tract and Northern Ceylon tract, 
I would divide the Island into— 
(1) A division which would comprise the main hill region 
and the wet low-country zone lying between it and the 
western coast. The north-western boundary would cut the 
coast between Chilaw and Puttalam, and the south-eastern 
boundary between Matara and Tangalla. 
This division, which might be called the Kandyan tract, 
would represent the stronghold of the Malabar element, and 
would correspond, more or less, with Blanford’s Southern Hill 
tract. 
(2) A division which would include Legge’s Indo-Ceylonese 
district, 7.c., the arid maritime belts of the north-west, north, 
