294. SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
that district. It must have been migrating from somewhere 
in the low-country of the south or south-east to Colombo or 
the north-west. 
The times of arrival and departure of our migrants varies 
to a certain extent, some species putting in their appearance 
earlier than others; many species begin to arrive in September, 
and the tide of migration has set in strongly by the end of 
that month ; but, as we have seen, many birds, especially 
the Fresh-water Waders, do not arrive in the north of the 
Island until later. April appears to be the month in which 
most depart, and by May 1 the bulk of them have gone. 
Some species, probably those which migrate slowly and linger 
on the way, seem to arrive later and leave earlier. This is the 
case with such hill birds as Hierococcyx varius—the Common 
Hawk Cuckoo—and the Woodcock, which do not come in 
much before November and depart about February. 
Other species, such as the two small Sandpipers—Totanus 
glareola and T. hypoleucus—usually known as Snippets, often 
come in considerable quantities quite early in August. Now 
these particular species do not generally leave us till April, and 
they breed north of the Himalayas, where the country cannot 
be ready for them until well on in May ; so that birds which 
arrive early in August can scarcely have had time to get to the 
breeding grounds and stay there long enough to bring up a 
family before their return. We know, however, that many 
individual Waders do not breed at the end of their first year. 
Some of these on arrival in their summer quarters play about 
for a few weeks and then turn south earlier than the nesting 
birds. Some, again, only perform part of the journey ; for 
instance, in England numbers of Turnstones and other species, 
which are solely ‘“ birds of passage’? breeding further north 
and wintering further south, spend the summer as non-nesting 
birds. So birds which arrive in Ceylon from the far north 
early in August are most certainly those which have not been 
breeding. 
This habit of loitering is carried even further. In some 
species a certain number of birds never start on their north- 
ward journey, but remain in their winter quarters throughout 
the breeding season, 
