INTRODUCTION. xv 



Actinodura, are wholly absent from Ceylon, and but poorly represented in the hills of South 

 India, there being only three species of the numerous genus Trochalopteron in the Nilghiris and 

 Palani hills and not any of the others. Again, there is only one species of Garrulax in South 

 India and one in Ceylon. Of the widely spread genus Pomatorhinus, found in the Himalayas, 

 Burmah, and Java, there is only one species in each of the southern hill-regions in question. 

 The genus Alcippe is about equally represented in both regions. These data show that though 

 there is a connexion between the ornis of the Himalayas and that of Ceylon it is but slight, and 

 only what one would expect in mountain-districts of adjacent ornithological regions. It is 

 noteworthy that the Liotrichidae, or Hill-Tits (one of the three peculiar families of the Oriental 

 Region, and which are abundant in the Himalayas), are absent from Ceylon. 



Certain Indian families are entirely absent from Ceylon, either as residents or migrants ; 

 they are the Eurylaimidse (Broadbills) — a Himalayan and Malayan form, — the Pteroclidse (Sand- 

 Grouse), the Otididse (Bustards), Gruida? (Cranes), and Mergidse (Mergansers). Among these 

 families it is remarkable that some member of the Gruidae has not yet been found in the cool 

 season in North Ceylon ; for, though the country is not thoroughly suited to their habits, the 

 members of this family being migratory (and one of them, the Demoiselle Crane, extending to 

 South India), it is singular that they do not extend their migration a little further south and reach 

 the shores of Ceylon. I have heard a vague rumour of a Crane being seen near Mullaittivu ; 

 and it is not wholly improbable that the above-mentioned species (Anthropoides virgo) will 

 some day be added to the occasional migrants during the N.E. monsoon. Another family, 

 Vulturidse, has a place in the Ceylonese avifauna, owing to a straggler having recently appeared 

 in the island. Here, again, is an instance of species which, one would think, ought to occur as 

 visitants in the N.E. monsoon ; for I am informed that Vultures are not unfrequently seen in 

 the Tanjore district ; and Gyps indicus breeds in the Nilghiris. 



Besides the widely distributed Grallatorial and Natatorial forms common to both India and 

 Ceylon, certain Indian genera of western distribution are represented in the island. They are 

 Cuculus, Ceryle, Halcyon, Cypselus, Caprimulgus, Corone, Lanius, Turdus, Phylloscopus, Cinnyris, 

 Hirundo, Motacilla, Corydalla, Turtur, Francolinus. Of these the Cuckoos are remarkably 

 numerous. 



If we turn now towards the Malayan region we find, in spite of its more remote geographical 

 position, quite as close an affinity as with the Himalayas — which may perhaps be accounted for 

 on the theory held by some that there was at one time a connexion between the two regions. 

 It may, however, be remarked, in passing, that if this did occur it must have been, in all 

 probability, by way of the Andamans and Malacca, as we find the 15,000 feet contour of ocean- 

 depth passes up near the east coast of the island into the Bay of Bengal to lat. 10° N. This 

 Malayan affinity is shown in the existence in Ceylon of a Malayan form, Phoenicophaes, and a* 

 member of a typical Sunda-Island genus, Myiophoneus. It is also worthy of note that the island 

 is visited by a Malaccan emigrant, Gorsachius, which has rarely been met with in India. This 

 is remarkable, as, in all probability, before the submergence took place which altered the Malayan 



c2 



