6^*0^'^ Z-^-N^UWyca, Vol'X//, p.H-5, |^b.XV,l^i2- , 



QL- 



22 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



'in 



'ds 



THE PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON/ 



E. Wait, M.A., 

 {With two Plates.) 



By W. E. Wait, M.A., r.Z..S. 



THE present paper completes the rough draft for the 

 proposed Handbook on the Birds of Ceyloii, and as 

 soon as it appears in print, I shall be able to undei'take the 

 task of revision for publication in volume form. The Passer es, 

 were originally to have been described by Mr. W. A. Cave. 

 As, however, during the whole jjeriod of the war jVIr. Ca\-c was 

 engaged on local military duties, in addition to his own 

 professional work, and as soon after his demobilization he left 

 the Island, he was unable to finish the task. Before his 

 departure he handed over to me descriptions, in practically 

 complete form, of the first sixty species. Consequently this 

 instalment owes much to his preparation. 



It is now over six years since the scheme for the Handbook 

 was first proposed, but the unavoidable delay caused by the 

 war has not been without advantages. Mr. E. C. Stuart 

 Baker, the recognized authority on the ornithology of the 

 Oriental region, is at present bringing out in the Journal of the 

 Bombay Natural History Society a revised list of the Birds of 

 India on a trinomial classification. It will, therefore, be 

 possible to take advantage of the latest classification when 

 publishing the Ceylon Handbook. 



Thirty years ago, when Oates and Blanford wrote their 

 standard work on the Birds of British India, the binomial 

 system, founded by Linnaeus in the middle of the eighteenth 

 century, was still universally used in all branches of Natural 

 History. That is, each species was described scientifically 

 by its generic and specific names. For instance, the House 

 Sparrow was known as Passer domesticus. Since then, 

 however, ornithological workers, especially field workers, ha\'e 



-^wmi^ 



/ 



