vi PEEFACE. 



behalf. On his return to England in 1877 it only remained for the author to combine his 

 acquired knowledge of the life-history of the birds of Ceylon with a comparison of his 

 collection (the largest ever made by one individual in the island) with series of specimens and 

 skins in the British Museum and the collections of brother ornithologists in London, illustrative 

 of the ornis of adjacent countries ; and after three years of incessant labour the work has been 

 brought to a conclusion. 



A non-residence in London, within daily reach of the libraries, with their stores of ornitho- 

 logical literature, and the collections with which that great civilizing centre teems, has been a 

 serious disadvantage to the author. Furthermore the vast amount of correspondence and 

 supervision which the publication of the work entailed on him was much increased by his 

 residence at a distance from those engaged in its printing and illustration. The scientific reader 

 will therefore, it is to be hoped, pardon the various shortcomings which the author feels must, 

 on this account, exist throughout the work. 



Its mission, however, is not to impart knowledge to the scientific ornithologist in Europe, 

 for it cannot pretend to any such degree of merit ; it is intended purely as a text-book for the 

 local student and collector in Ceylon ; and though the author has as yet met with comparatively 

 little support among the class for which he has worked so hard, yet if he succeeds in inculcating 

 in the minds of only a few of the inhabitants of Ceylon a taste for the study of birds, which he 

 apprehends must always rank foremost among the wonderful creations of an all-wise and 

 bountiful Providence, his labour of love will not have been in vain. On the other hand, 

 while his sincerest gratitude is evoked by the patronage which the Royal Family have been 

 graciously pleased to bestow upon his humble labours, the author cannot but tender his 

 best thanks to his friends and the general public in England for the cordial manner in which 

 they have supported him. 



Aberystwith, September 2, 1880. 



W. V. LEGGE, 



Captain R.A. 



