PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. 165 



Length 6- 6; wing 4*75; tail 3*2; tarsus -55; bill from 

 gape • 6. 



Distribution. — A resident species peculiar to Ceylon. It is 

 found all over the low-country and in the central hills up to 

 about 3,000 feet. On the Uva patanas I have seen it at 

 an elevation of about 4,000 feet. In the northern forest 

 tract it is widely distributed, but not very numerous ; it is 

 more abundant in the south, especially round Galle, and is 

 occasionally seen in Colombo. 



Habits. — -May be seen hawking for insects over paddy 

 fields, tanks, marshes, and patanas, as well as round houses 

 in villages and the vicinity of towns. The flight is slower and 

 heavier than that of the common Swallow, but it is often found 

 in company with that species in the low-country and with 

 H. javanica in the hills. The breeding season is from AprU 

 to June. The nest is a solid, retort-shaped structure of mud, 

 glued on to the under surface of a verandah roof, the arch of 

 a bridge or culvert, or the roof of a rock cave. The interior 

 is lined with a felted layer of feathers. The two or three 

 eggs are elongated ovals of pure white without any gloss. 

 Two eggs in my collection measure • 95 by • 57. 



Family Motacillid^. 



Wagtails and Pipits. 



The Wagtails and Pipits form a family of rather small, 

 slim-built birds, with straight, slender bills, slender legs and 

 feet, and fairly long tails. The wing has only nine primaries, 

 the first being nearly as long as the second ; the inner second- 

 aries — or tertiaries — are elongated, and in the closed wing 

 reach almost, if not quite, to the tip of the longest primary. 

 The rictal bristles are fairly well developed. Tlie family, 

 which is found chiefly in the Old World, especially in the north 

 of Europe and Asia, divides naturally into two groups : 

 Wagtails and Pipits. The Wagtails are most daintily formed 

 birds with longish tails, which they vibrate perpetually while 

 standing or running. They frequent grassy lands, or the 

 banks of streams and tanks, running over the ground in 

 search of insects. Most of the species are migratory, and 



