PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. " 37 



Col. Harrington, in his recent monograph on the Timeliides* 

 considerably altered this classification, proposing the name of 

 Timeliides for the group, which he raised to the rank of a sub- 

 order. From this sub-order he excluded the Brachyptery- 

 ginse and Brachypodinae, also the White-eyes and those genera 

 of the Liotrichinse, of which representatives are found in this 

 Island. 



Stuart Baker, in a still more recent classification, which I 

 propose to follow, has not been quite so drastic in his revision. 

 He retains the CrateropodidsB as a family, rejecting the 

 Brachypteryginse which he transfers bodily to the Thrushes, as 

 far as Ceylon is concerned, with the exception of Elaphrortiis 

 palliseri — the Ceylon Shortwing. This last species is most 

 probably a Warbler, but its position is still a little uncertain. 

 The White-eyes are also raised to the rank of a family — Zostero- 

 pidse, and placed next to the Nectarimidse — Sunbirds. . 



The Crateropodidse found in Ceylon, as thus reconstituted, 

 fall into four sub-families. The characters distinguishing the 

 whole family are those given by Gates, and narrated above 

 with the following additions : Wing rounded, habits non- 

 migratory. In fact, one of the main features of the family as 

 thus defined is the absence of any migratory species. As a 

 consequence, there is a tendency throughout the group for the 

 forms to split up into species of restricted habitat, or into 

 well-marked geographical races, i.e., sub-species. A large 

 proportion of the forms found in Ceylon are specifically or sub- 

 specificaUy distinct from their nearest Indian alhes. Further, 

 there is no doubt that in several of our Ceylon forms, birds from 

 the damper low-country forests tend, as a. rule, to be darker 

 than specimens from the drier forest tracts, or from the more 

 open patana districts up-country. In several cases these 

 paler specimens have been, by some onithologists, sub- 

 specifically distinguished from the darker. In each case, 

 however, the distinction is based solely on paler tones in the 

 plumage generally unaccompanied by any well-marked 

 differences in size, &c. It is a well-knoAMi fact that the hue of 

 the plumage is largely influenced by the density of the rainfall 



* Vide Journal Bombay Nat, Hist. Soc, Vol. XXIII. 



