46 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



carried from the Indian or Ceylon coast, but as Melanitis 

 ismene also occurs in Africa, the possibility that it came on 

 l^oard when the ship was passing Cape Guardafui, or the 

 Island of Socotra, must also be considered. It seems tolerably 

 certain, however, that if the butterfly hailed from Africa it 

 would have been seen several days earlier, and the facts, 

 therefore, seem to justify the assumption that it had an 

 Asiatic origin. 



December 18, 1912. J. R. HENDERSON. 



6. A Note on the Occurrence of " Parus atriceps " {tfie Grey 

 back Titmouse in Colombo). — In Mr. W. A. Cave's Paper on 

 the " Birds of Colombo," he included, I understand upon my 

 statements, the above bird, Parus atriceps in his list, and the 

 inclusion led to a certain amount of criticism. So that I 

 consider it expedient to put on record the fact that this bird, 

 though rare in Colombo, certainly does occur there. As I 

 write now, in my office near the Medical College, I can hear a 

 pair of them making a great fuss outside the window, not 

 thirty yards from my chair. 



The bird is perfectly familiar to me from my observation 

 of it at intervals for the last four years m Nuwara Eliya. I 

 have observed it there at all seasons of the year and have 

 found its nest. So far as Colombo is concerned, I first noticed 

 the bird in June, 1911, in the Government Training College 

 compound. At that time I saw the bird for several minutes 

 and watched it on the grass through by field glasses. I never 

 saw it again in the same place , and in fact I never saw the bird 

 again in Colombo until this year, although I fancied that I 

 heard its call note several times. 



On January 18, 1913, at this place, the Government 

 Analyst's Laboratory, near the Medical College, I heard a 

 call note, very familiar in Nuwara Eliya, but strange for 

 Colombo. On looking out of the window I saw a specimen of 

 Parus atriceps searching for grubs on a papaw tree within 

 three yards of the place where I was standing. I went out and 

 watched the bird for a few minutes, after which it flew awav 



