24 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



sub-specilic name. Thus, if one wishes to describe as a new 

 sub-species the Ceylon form of the Magpie Robin — Copsychus 

 saularis — it may be shown as C. saularis ceylonensis. The 

 Indian form, to which the name C. saularis was first appHed, 

 would become C. saularis saularis. Where two or more forms 

 originally ranked as separate species are to be re-grouped as 

 sub-species, the form which has the oldest scientific name 

 takes precedence. Thus, the Common Indian Mynah and the 

 Ceylon Mynah, formerly ranked as separate species — Acrid- 

 other es tristis and A. melanosternus — are now considered to be 

 merely sub-species of the same bird. A. tristis was named b}' 

 Linnaeus in 1766, A. melanosternus by Legge in 1879. The 

 Indian form, therefore, becomes A. tristis tristis, a,nd the Ceylon 

 form A. tristis melanosternus. 



At the beginning of last year Mr. Stuart Baker kindly 

 furnished me with a manuscript list of the Ceylon Passeres, 

 showing several modifications made in the family groups since 

 the time of Gates, and also giving the trinomials of Cej'^lon forms 

 as far as he had then worked them out. In order not to delay 

 this instalment I have followed this admittedly incomplete 

 and tentative list, but there is no doubt that Mr. Baker's 

 catalogue, when completed and printed, will contain a good 

 many further modifications. As I have already noted, the 

 Ceylon Handbook in its volume form will follow Mr. Baker's 

 classification as eventually published. 



Order PASSERES. 

 Passerine Birds. 



For all the wide diversities of size, colour, and outward form, 

 the whole range of birds is wonderfully alike in general 

 structure, and the differences between the most divergent 

 ornithological orders are not nearly so great as those between 

 even nearly allied orders of mammals. The structural 

 keymarks distinguishing the Passeres lie in the formation of 

 the bones of the palate and in the two tendons which run 

 down the leg and serve the toes. These two tendons, known 



