486 NOTES, CHIEFLY OOLOGlCAL, 



on the tops of trees near their nests, gradually disappearing 

 as darkness approached. These tanks and the whole Mannar 

 district have been repeatedly examined for me during the 

 last breeding season, but not one White Stork has been found. 

 I imagine that the second colony consisted of birds formerly 

 at the first one, and that the protracted drought of 1880 has 

 temporarily driven them away, Dissura episcopa having also 

 left the same breeding station. The number of other waders 

 has also greatly diminished. 



? 921.— Ardea goliath, Riipp. 



In September 1880, during the drought, I met with a 

 gigantic Heron, much larger than A. cinerea, and resembling 

 the Giant Herons in the Colombo Meseum, feeding in a miser- 

 able little puddle, a few inches deep, in the bed of the Aruvi 

 Aru, in company with a party of Black-headed Ibises and 

 shell-eaters. It frequented the river for some time, and was 

 not very shy. I expect it will be found to be a resident iu 

 Ceylon. 



950.— Sarcidiornis melanonotus, Forst. 



January, and probably February and March. — Dimensions of 

 non-breeding Ceylon specimens shot in February out of a flock 

 of about 50, are — 



1. w. tf.r. tars. b.fg. mid-toe claw. 



Giant's Tank, male ... 2800 1330 590 2 80 2 50 290 050 



Ditto female (four) ... 2140 10 90 525 200 2'00 2 20 042 



to to to to to to 



2270 1180 5 60 220 220 260 



Iris dark brown, nearly black ; bill black ; legs and feet dark 

 leaden ; toes horny ; nostril in an elevated membrane. The 

 females possess a rudimentary comb, in the form of a black, 

 soft, wrinkled protuberance, •02-inches high, extending longi- 

 tudinally over the part of the bill occupied by the comb in the 

 male. In the females the colour of the back varied from 

 plain grey to grey, with darker brownish spots, or with slight 

 transverse bars in the lower part. 



952.— Dendrocygna javanica, Eorsf. 



There is a small race, which may perhaps prove to require 

 specific separation, of the Whistling Teal, in the Mannar district. 

 Its colours resemble thosa of the common bird, but the higher 

 side feathers are elougated, tawny, with a buff white mesial stripe, 

 chiefly on the upper web, the outermost upper tail-coverts 

 being pale buff-yellow on the outer web. The dimensions of 

 one procured in February are : — Giant's Tank, Female — Length, 

 15*12; wing, 7*15; expanse, 27'86 ; tail from vent, 2'65 ; 

 (extreme tips of feathers worn off) ; tarsus. 1*70; mid toe, 2'35 ; 



