WITH ADDITIONS, TO THE AVIFAUNA OF THE ISLAND. oG9 



reddish white ground, thickly covered throughout with brownish 

 red and dusky red spots becoming somewhat confluent round 

 the obtuse end. In form they are regular ovals, and measured 

 0-78 by 0-6; 0-79 by 0-59 ; 6-79 by 0;58. 



507.— Larvivora cyanea, Hodgson. (161.) 



This " Chat " is found in the jungle of the North while 

 passing southwards to the hills on its migration. I procured a 

 male in the month of October 1872, a few miles from 

 Trincomalie. 



515 ?— Calamodyta brunnescens. ? N.Sp. (163bis.) 



In my note on A. brunnescens, Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 439, 

 I mentioned that certain differences existed between the bird 

 I shot at Jaffna at the season when our Indian migrants are 

 with us (and which by the bye corresponds exactly with tho 

 fine plate in " Lahore to Yarkand") and that which I procured 

 at Hambantotta. Further research has proved the latter variety 

 to be resident in Ceylon, breeding in June and July. Looking 

 to this circumstance, its differences in dimensions and in 

 certain points of plumage which I did not fully go into in 1873, 

 and to the fact that C. stentoria retires altogether from the 

 south of India in the breeding season, I think I shall not err in 

 characterising our bird as a distinct species, which, if really 

 new, I propose *o call C. meridionalis. 



Since procuring it at Hambantotta in 1873, I find that it is 

 an inhabitant of the north-eastern districts as well, being very 

 local and only found in tanks entirely overgrown with reeds and 

 other impenetrable vegetation. I have found it in two localities, 

 the one a tank near Trincomalie, which is literally a vast bed 

 of gigantic rushes attaining a height of 8 or 10 feet, the other 

 the celebrated Topare or Pollnanera tank covered with lotus 

 and other swamp-loving vegetation. Should similar spots exist 

 elsewhere it will, doubtless, be found in them. It is very difficult 

 to shoot, rarely showing itself, and when traced even to a 

 detached clump of rushes, impossible to drive out, even by 

 trampling all over them. 



I have as yet procured only three examples ; two males and 

 one female. Dimensions as follows : — 



Length Wing Tail Tarsus M. toe Its claw straight H. toe Claw st. Bill at front 



(? 785; 3 35; 3; 118; 07; 31; 43; 45; 78 



<y 33 _ 11; 07; 32; 0-4; 04 ; 08 



? 3 — 10; 06; 3 ; 04; 38; 72 



(the last two in bad moult, and therefore length and tail not 

 taken) . 



Soft parts. — Iris brownish or olivaceous }'ellow ; bill, 

 upper mandible dark horn, lower with the base fleshy and terminal 

 part brownish ; gape, mouth and tongue orange ; legs plumbeous 



