34 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



{Alcedo ispida), with those of the Green Bee-eater {Merops 

 viridis). The eggs of our two Green Pigeons cannot be told 

 apart, and I should be very sorry to have to name correctly 

 any egg of our half-dozen species of Munia, unless I had seen 

 the bird and the situation of the nest. 



Eggs named and brought by villagers should be accepted 

 with the greatest caution. There are specific native names 

 for most of the birds, but as often as not they are incorrectly 

 used. I have heard the term Lihiniya applied to the Hill 

 Mynah {Eulahes religiosa), the Wood Swallow-shrike {Arta- 

 mus fuscus) , and to various species of Swift and Swallow ; while 

 Pandarella has stood equally well for Larks, Pipits, and Quaker- 

 thrushes. They will also put a Sparrow's egg in a Bulbul's 

 nest and gravely swear they have brought the nest and eggs 

 of a Fly-catcher. 



When unknown eggs are brought by villagers a book like 

 Hume's " Nests and Eggs " is of great value in provisionally 

 identifying the specimens, but you should not be satisfied 

 with the correctness of such an identification until you have 

 verified it by discovering similar eggs yourself and seeing the 

 bird off the nest. A villager in the North -Central Province 

 once brought me two white eggs, which he stoutly maintained 

 were those of the Bronze -wing Pigeon {Chalcophaps indica). 

 He described the nest as having consisted of a few twigs 

 placed not very high up in the branches of a tree. The eggs 

 were certainly white, but they were of a chalky texture and 

 resembled miniature specimens of the egg of the Grow Pheasant 

 {Centropus sinensis). I had my suspicions, but it was not till 

 three years later that, in November last, I flushed a Green- 

 billed Malkoha {Rhopodytes viridirostris) off a slight nest of 

 sticks placed in the branch of an Euphorbia tree, and found 

 a chalky white egg, the exact counterpart of the two eggs 

 brought to me by the villager. As I told you at the beginning 

 of my Paper, I am still waiting to verify what I take to be the 

 eggs of the Ceylon Quaker Thrush [Pellorneum juscicapillum) 

 and of the Eastern Baillon's Crake {Porzana pusilla). 



Lastly, always keep a record of the date and locality of any 

 nests found, and mark your eggs so that they can at any time 

 be referred to the record. My own eggs are always marked, 



