INTRODUCTION. xix 



Palceornis calthropce, Zosterops ceylonensis, Culicicapa ceylonensis) abcmnd, and in which both 

 Gallus lafayettii and Galloperdix bicalcarata are plentiful. The northern portion of this korale, 

 lying between the Karawita hills and the hilly forests of the Passedun Korale, consists partly of 

 semicultivated land and partly of a curious and little-known tract of open grassy hills with wood- 

 dotted dingles, resembling the patnas of the Kandyan country, and on the open parts of which 

 Grass- Warblers, Wren- Warblers, and Munias are common, while Babblers (Pomatorhinus) are 

 found in the groves ; but otherwise an absence of bird-life is decidedly noticeable. 



It is in the coffee-districts and valleys lying beneath the estates which are dotted with 

 patna-grasses, particularly " Maana-grass " (Andropogon martini), and patched here and there 

 with groves of luxuriant trees lining the courses of the streams, where the hill-species, both 

 " peculiar " and Indian, intermingled with not a few low-country forms, abound ; but it is also in 

 these spots where the original ornithological features of the country are being gradually changed 

 by the disappearance before the woodman's axe of such a vast area of forest, and species such as 

 Palumbus torringtonim, Merula kinnisi, Eulabes ptilogenys, Stoparola sordida, and Culicicapa 

 ceylonensis (true hill-species) are being driven into the upper forests, or are locating themselves 

 to a considerable extent about the open estates where once their forest-home stood. 



In the upper forests and in the Nuwara-Eliya plateau we lose the stately trees of the genera 

 Doona, Dipterocarpus, Sec, and find stunted, though tbick-trunked, arboreal forms, for the most 

 part profusely clothed with handsome mosses ; and these woods, with their circumscribed patnas, 

 are the favourite haunts of the peculiar birds enumerated in my table, as well as many Indian 

 species, both permanent and migratory. Of the former may be mentioned Merula kinnisi, 

 Culicicapa ceylonensis, Parus atriceps, Cisticola schoenicola, Pericrocotus flammeus, Pericrocotus 

 peregrinus, Hypsipetes ganeesa, Pratincola bicolor, Orthotomus sutorius, Corydalla rufula ; of the 

 latter, Turdus wardi,Erythrosterna hyperythra, Larvivora brunnea, Hierococcyx varius, Phylloscopus 

 nitidus, Phylloscopus magnirostris are noticeable. 



The eastern subdivision of Southern Ceylon, which is shut off from the influence of the 

 south-west monsoon by the eastern slopes of the Kolonna and Morowak-Korale mountains and 

 their spurs, which run south towards Matara, presents one of the most remarkable instances of 

 a sudden change in physical aspect and floral character that can, perhaps, anywhere be met with 

 in such a small island. Possessing a totally different climate, and consequently a distinct flora, 

 the avifauna of this region has little relation to that of the damp south-western division. The 

 birds of the vast forest which stretches southwards from the Haputale mountains to the confines 

 of the scrubby maritime district are the same as those of the northern forests ; and the ornis of 

 the coast-region is precisely the same as that of the north-west coast, except that it includes several 

 species, such as Prima hodgsoni, Taccocua leschenaulti, and Pyctorhis nasalis, which seem to have 

 their head-quarters here, and are not found (in such abundance, at any rate) in that part. Charac- 

 teristic species of the two regions are Xantholcema liaemacephala, Pyrrhulauda grisea, Merops 

 viridis, Picus mahrattensis, TJpupa ceylonensis, and Cittocincla macrura, none of which, with the 

 exception of the latter bird, are found in the adjoining damp district. The numerous shallow 



