May 5, 1881] 



NATURE 



concemed has played an important part in the develop- 

 ment of emotional expression in man. 



The remaining essays, which we have no further space 

 to consider, are likewise entertaining, and we therefore 

 recommend the book to all who are interested in the 

 sundry biological theories of which it treats. 



George J. Romanes 



LEGGE'S "BIRDS OF CEYLON" 

 A History of the Birds of Ceylon. By Capt. Vincent 

 Legge, R.A. Part III., concluding the Work. 410. 

 (London : Published by the Author, 18S0.) 



THE ornithologists are certainly active at the present 

 time. We have just recorded the commencement 

 of an important work on the Birds of New Guinea, we 

 have now to notice the conclusion of an excellent volume 

 on the Birds of Ceylon. Capt. Legge's book will, we are 

 sure, be much valued by the numerous European resi- 

 dents in the coffee-districts of the island, who cannot fail 

 to have their attention attracted by the beautiful forms of 

 ornithic life which surround them, and as yet have had 

 no ready means of becoming acquainted with what is 

 known of them. Jerdon, singularly enough, did not 

 include Ceylon in the area of his " Birds of India," and 

 although Blyth, Layard, and Holdsworth have worked 

 long and laboriously on the Ceylonese avifauna, their 

 memoirs on the subject are dispersed about in various 

 serials and other publications, which it is not possible for 

 a coffee-planter to have at his command. A general 

 r^stime of the Ceylonese ornithology, with full descriptions 

 of all the species, with excellent illustrations of the 

 peculiar forms, and with every necessary detail required 

 for the instruction of the local student and collector, is 

 therefore likely to be a most acceptable piece of work to 

 the resident in the island. At the same time Capt. Legge 

 has produced an elaborate and scientifically exact Mono- 

 graph of a local Avifauna, which will be received with 

 welcome by naturalists of every class, and is well worthy 

 to take its place on their shelves alongside such works as 

 Dresser's "Birds of Europe" and Buller's "Birds of 

 New Zealand," with which it corresponds in size and 

 character. 



As regards the general features of the Ceylonese Ornis 

 Capt. Legge observes that the island, " although it con- 

 tains none of those remarkable forms which characterise 

 the birds of some of the Malay islands, undoubtedly 

 possesses a rich avifauna ; and, considering its geogra- 

 phical area (about five-sixths of Ireland), the number of 

 species is very large. The tropical position of Ceylon, 

 coupled with its location in the path of the monsoon 

 winds and rains, fosters the growth of luxuriant vegeta- 

 tion and verdant forests, which, as a matter of course, 

 teem with all that wonderful insect-life necessary for the 

 sustenance of birds. Hence the large number of resident 

 species inhabiting it ; whilst the fact of its being situated 

 at the extreme south of an immense peninsula makes it 

 the finishing point of the stream of waders and water- 

 birds which annually pass down the coast of India. 

 Lastly, the prevalence of a northerly wind at the time of 

 migration of weak-flying warblers brings these little birds 

 in numbers to its shores." 



The total number of species of birds included in Capt. 



Legge's work is 371, of which two have been introduced 

 by man's agenc)', and about eighteen others are somewhat 

 doubtful. The authentically determined birds of Ceylon 

 may therefore be stated at about 350, of which forty-seven 

 are peculiar to the island ; this indicates a very large 

 amount of individuality. The relationship of the Ceylonese 

 Ornis, Capt. Legge tells us, is, as might have been 

 expected from the geographical position of the island and 

 its separation from the mainland merely by a shallow 

 strait, "closer to that of South India than to the avifauna 

 of any other part of the peninsula. Wallace, in his great 

 work on the ' Distribution of Animals,' considers the 

 island of Ceylon and the entire south of India as far 

 north as the Deccan as forming a subdivision of the great 

 ' Oriental Region.' It is however in the hills of the two 

 districts, which possess the important element of a similar 

 rainfall, where we find the nearest affinities both as 

 regards birds and mammals; and this is exemplified by 

 the fact of some of the members of the Brachypodid^e 

 and Turdida; (families well represented in both districts) 

 being the same in the Nilghiris and in the mountains of 

 Ceylon, while many of the Timaliida; and Turdida: in one 

 region have near allies in the other. 



" But though this strong similarity in the avifauna of 

 the mountains in question, as well as their geographical 

 characters, indicate a contemporaneous upheaval and 

 enrichment with animal life of their surfaces, a similar 

 connection is found between the northern parts of the 

 island and the low country of the Carnatic. 



" Here, again, we have in the fossiliferous limestones of 

 the two regions an undoubted connection, and also an 

 affinity in their avifaunas, which differ totally from that 

 of the mountain-districts on either side of the straits." 



In concluding our notice of this admirable volume we 

 must not fail to call special attention to the plates which 

 have been drawn by Mr. Keulemans, and are excellently 

 coloured. They are devoted to the illustration of the 

 species peculiar to Ceylon. Nor must we forget the 

 map, which forms the frontispiece and shows the five 

 zoo-geographical regions into which the author divides 

 the island, besides the various localities referred to in the 

 course of the work. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



A Manual of Ancient Geography. Authorised Transla- 

 tion from the German of H. Kiepert, Ph.D. (London: 

 Macmiilan and Co., 1881.) 

 The name of Kiepert is in itself a sufficient guarantee of 

 the thoroughnes> and accuracy of a book on geography. 

 That writer, in his " Lehrbuch der Allen Geographic" — 

 from which the present work is abridged, though he him- 

 self describes the "Lehrbuch" as a " Werkchen " — has 

 brought together a vast amount of well-digested informa- 

 tion respecting ancient geography, so that the book excites 

 the student's admiration from the grasp it displays of the 

 many sides — geological, ethnographical, philological, his- 

 torical, climatological, &c. — of that wide-reaching sub- 

 ject, and the discernment and critical spirit which cha- 

 racterise it. To the English reader the smaller work, 

 which has been excellently translated by G. A. M., 

 supplies a waHt that has long been felt. We possess no 

 satisfactory booi< on the subject intermediate between 

 primers and elaborate treatises, and the present one has 

 all the advantage of being the condensation of a larger 

 book, so that in reading it we feel all through that the 



