406 MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON CEYLONESE BIRDS. [Mar. 5, 



Excepting Phcenicophaes and Prionochilus, which are quite Malay 

 forms, all these peculiar Ceylon species belong to genera found in 

 India. Most of these genera range from India more or less to the 

 countries east of it 5 and the nearest allies of Cissa ornata are almost 

 confined to Eastern Asia. 



I have not included Batrachostomus moniliger or Kelaartia peni- 

 cillata among the species peculiar to Ceylon, as they are believed to be 

 found also in South India ; and I have likewise omitted Malacocercus 

 striatus, as I much doubt its distinctness from M. malabaricus. 



Geographical distribution. — In this Catalogue I have given ap- 

 proximately the geographical range of most of the species found in 

 Ceylon, from which it will be observed that all those not peculiar to 

 the island are, with very few exceptions, known in India ; the majority 

 of them extend to Burmah, many of them to some of the Malay 

 islands and China, and a few to Australia. Goisachius melanolophus 

 is a remarkable example of a common Malaccan species having four 

 times been found in Ceylon, and, strangely enough, only on the west 

 side of the island, although it has not yet been observed on the 

 adjoining Indian continent. A converse example exists in Hirundo 

 hyperythra, of which one or two specimens have been brought from 

 Malacca, that species being otherwise considered quite peculiar to, as 

 it is abundant in, Ceylon. 



The Ceylon birds which range to the westward of India belong to 

 species of generally wide distribution, and consist principally of 

 Raptorial, Grallatorial, and Natatorial forms ; the exceptions being 

 examples of Hirundo, Cypselus, Halcyon, Ceryle, Cuculus, Cisti- 

 cola, and Pyrrhulauda. 



Of the species which extend to Australia those belonging to Colo- 

 bates, Strepsilas, and Terekia are of very wide distribution ; the 

 Ceylon species of Halia'etus, Excalfactoria, Charadrms, JEgialitis, 

 and Mycteria have a considerable range east and south-east of India ; 

 and Attagen minor and Sterna gracilis seem alone to be, so far as is 

 known, especially Australian. 



Indian families absent from Ceylon. — The Vulturidce, Eurylai- 

 midce, Pteroclidce, Otididce, Glareolidce, Gruidce, and Mergidce, all 

 families included in the Indian avifauna, have no recognized repre- 

 sentatives in Ceylon. Of the Vidturidce, one species breeds so far 

 south as the Neilgherries ; but Ceylon agrees with the Indian archi- 

 pelago and the countries south of continental Asia in having no 

 Vulture. The Eurylaimidce have their stronghold on the eastern 

 side of the Bay of Bengal and in the Malay islands ; and a repre- 

 sentative of this family may yet be found in Ceylon. It is also not 

 improbable that stragglers of the common South-Indian species of 

 Pteroclidce and Otididce may one day be met with in the north of 

 the island. Glareola may likewise be looked for ; but the Gruidce 

 and Mergidce are not likely to range so far south. 



Position and Character of the Island. — Without entering into the 

 question of whether Ceylon was originally a continuous portion of 

 India or formed part of a lost Malay continent, as believed by the 

 late Sir J. Emerson Tennent, it may be desirable to point out the 



