290 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
birds would seek the northernmost confines of their breeding 
area. The same axiom may hold good when we come to 
examine the range of several species, which, though wholly 
migratory as far as Ceylon is concerned, are only partial 
migrants in India, for example, the Indian Pitta—Pitta 
brachyura. ‘This species ranges practically all over India. In 
summer it is found in Northern India ; in winter in Southern 
India and Ceylon ; ina good many parts of Central India it is 
a permanent resident. Very possibly it is the South Indian 
and Ceylon birds which migrate to Northern India. It is 
equally possible that in Central India the seasonal movements 
of this species may be as complex as those of the Thrush in 
England. 
Another general axiom that migrants wander a good deal 
more in winter than at the breeding season has considerable 
bearing on the ebb and flow of our migrant population, and 
accounts for many of our irregular migrants. There is no 
doubt that the Snipe, Golden Plover, and many more of the 
Waders which visit us in such hosts are more abundant in 
some years than in others. The difference may to some extent 
be accounted for by favourable or unfavourable conditions on 
the breeding grounds, resulting in a stronger or weaker tide 
of migration from the far north. On the other hand, the 
difference in number seems to be affected rather by a favour 
able or unfavourable season in Ceylon. Our winter visitors 
do not arrive from Siberia in one long flight. Once they have 
crossed the Himalayas, they probably filter gradually down 
through India, and if they do not find conditions suitable 
as they proceed south, they do not penetrate in their usual 
numbers as far as Ceylon. 
There is no doubt that many birds linger some time on the 
way. Letustakea typical Wader. The Pintailed Snipe breeds 
in Northern Siberia, from the Yenesei to the Pacific, and the 
birds must leave such a cold region fairly early. The van- 
guard arrives in Ceylon on the south-west coast of the Island 
about the beginning of September. In the north and east of 
the Island, where the rains do not render the country suitable 
for them until far later, the birds do not appear in great 
numbers until well on towards Christmas. These later arrivals 
