"WITH ADDITIONS, TO THE AVIFAUNA OF THE ISLAND. 365 



though darker has the same character of plumage as in the 

 light specimen ; a black line commences below the cheeks and 

 widens out on tbe sides of throat, crossing it from where a narrow 

 mesial streak runs up to the chin ; the chin, throat, under surface 

 and under wing-coverts are white with dark shafts and 

 longitudinal drops, very narrow on the centre of the breast and 

 widening into patches on tbe flanks and abdomen ; on the 

 chest below the black gorget there is an extensive brown patch. 

 This latter is of the same hue as the under surface of a pre- 

 sumably adult bird which I examined in 1872, shot in the 

 Central Province, showing, as I take it, that the adolescent 

 under surface commences on the chest. 



81.— Ninox hirsuta, Temm. (33.) 



This Owl frequents the jungles round tanks in this part of 

 the island ; it has been, until lately, considered both rare and 

 restricted in range as regards Ceylon, but it is neither the one 

 nor the other. It is plentiful in the south-west and also in the 

 jungles at the foot of the Badulla hills ; I have no doubt it 

 will prove equally so in the forests of the Eastern Province. 



153 bis. — Loriculus indicus, Qmelin. (66.) 



I have lately met with this species in jungles of this dis- 

 trict ; it is not uncommon in the interior, but it has not been 

 observed before in the northern half of the island, having been 

 supposed, in common with many other peculiar Ceylonese forms 

 (all of which I have lately procured in the wilderness of forest 

 to the eastward of Trincomalie) to exist only in the west and 

 southern part of the country. 



164 Us. — Yungipicus gymnopthalmos, Blyth. (68.) 



This little Woodpecker is found sparingly all through the 

 northern central part of Ceylon. It has until now only been 

 recorded from the west and southern half of the island. Is it 

 quite certain that it has been found in Southern India* ? 



196 bis.— Megalaima flavifrons, Cuv. (76.) 



The eggs of this Barbet have been at last thoroughly identified. 

 Mr. Mac Vicar, a gentleman in the Public Works Department, 

 found two nests in the Western Province in the beginning of 

 last May. This is the breeding season of all our Ceylon Barbits. 

 The holes were bored in dead branches of the Jack Tree about 

 20 feet from the ground, and the eggs laid on the bare wood 

 at the bottom of the cavity. They were two in number, pure 

 white, smooth and glossy, and of a slightly pointed oval shape. 

 They measured respectively 106 by '82; 1*13 by 08 ; 1*13 



* Quite so I think, I have numerous specimens from different localities in Travan« 

 core undistiuguishable from others from Ceylon. — Ed., S. F, 



