126 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



of its main haunts runs from Tangalla to Haputale, then 

 across the Uva hills to the park country on the east of the central 

 range as far north as the glades round Polonnaruwa. It is 

 found all over the Hambantota District, but does not appear 

 to occur near the sea in the Eastern Province. Scattered 

 colonies exist outside these limits in a few localities in the 

 Galle and Matara Districts, also in Pussellawa and other 

 places on the eastern portion of the central ranges. It is 

 strange that a bird which is equally at home on the Uva hills 

 and in the dry hot chenas east of Tangalla has not spread 

 all over the drier districts of the Island. 



Habits. — A familiar little bird round Bandarawela, &c., 

 where it is known as the " drunken piper " from its human 

 little whistle, which resembles an attempt at the first line of 

 a tune. It has also a grating little call note, not unlike the 

 " scrit " of the Paradise Flycatcher. It is extremely restless, 

 constantly flitting from perch to perch and flirting its fan- 

 shaped tail. It descends to the ground more frequently than 

 most Flycatchers. The breeding season is from April to 

 June. The nest is an exquisite little cup of fine grass coated 

 with cobwebs and placed on the top of a bough or in a small 

 fork. The two or three eggs are creamy-white, speckled 

 generally in a fairly thick zone round the broad part of the 

 egg, with grayish-brown. Average size • 67 by • 51 . 



TURDID^. 



The Thrush Family. 



The Turdidse as defined by Gates are a large Passerine 

 group, in which the young are normally either mottled, or 

 marked with a scaly pattern. Herein they agree with the 

 Flycatchers ; they differ, however, in having longer and more 

 serviceable tarsi, and in lacking the horizontal hairs, which 

 in the Flycatchers spring from the forehead and overlie 

 the nostrils. I have followed E. C. Stuart Baker's classifi- 

 cation by including in the family the Brachypteryginas — A 

 sub-family transferred from the place given them by Gates 

 in the Crateropodidss — and also by including the genera 

 Arrenga and Irena in the sub-family Turdinas, or true 

 Thrushes. 



