96 BAZA CEYLONENSIS. 



Numatran bird, as far as can be proved by the evidence of the single immature example which exists of it, is 

 distinct. The testimony of an immature bird, it must be allowed, is not a very safe one to go upon ; but never- 

 theless, as the specimen exists, it is a larger bird (wing 12-75, tail, very long, 9-6), has no chin-stripe, which is a 

 marked characteristic of B. ceylonensis, has the under-surface bars much broader and of a different appearance, and 

 the tippiugs of the back and scapular feathers fulvous and not white. Unless, therefore, B. magnirostris from the 

 Philippines turns out some day to be identical with sumatrensis from Sumatra, and both the same as ceylonensis, I 

 think the latter species may hold its own, as it can scarcely be one with the Philippine bird, a species 7ml hitherto 

 procured to the westward of those distant islands. As yet every member of the genus (except the curious Baza 

 lophotes, totally unlike any other in its plumage) has proved very local in its habitat; and were it not for this fact, 

 it would be difficult to imagine our bird restricted to so small an island as Ceylon *. 



Distribution and Discovery. — This interesting Crested Falcon was described by me {loc. cit.) from two 

 adult examples which I found in the collection of Messrs. Whyte and Co., naturalists, in Kandy, in August 

 1876. They were both shot on the same day, the Gth of the same month, by Mr. F. H. Davidson, of Matale ; 

 on the Kudupolclla estate. In May of the same year, however, I had met with an immature specimen 

 (the one now in the Norwich Museum) at Mr. Bligh's bungalow, and identified it from Mr. Sharpe's plate in 

 the ' Catalogue of Birds/ vol. i., as B. sumatrensis. This example was therefore the first that came under my 

 notice; it was shot in the early part of 1875 by a Mr. Colville, near Nilambe, in the Kandy district, and 

 preserved in Messrs. Whyte and Co/s establishment. In the beginning of last year the immature bird referred 

 to above as now in the National collection, was procured near Kandy by Messrs. Whyte and Co.'s collectors . 

 and a third example has been lately sent by this firm to the Norwich Museum, a female, and shot in the 

 ' 'entral Province on the 3rd of January last. Since the publication of my account of the species, Mr. A. Whyte 

 has stated, in a paper which appeared in ' Stray Feathers/ August 1877, that the " bird was discovered i by us 

 eight years ago, a pair having been shot by one of our collectors not far from Kandy." With regard to this 

 pair Mr. Whyte writes to me lately as follows : — " They were shot on the same day, from the top of Oodoo- 

 wella crag, about four miles from Kandy, by a Singalese collector, Carolis, in the fall of 1870 ; since then at 

 least ten specimens of the bird have passed through our hands ; and I can quote Kandy, Matale, Rattota, and 

 Deltota as among the situations in which it has been found." It would appear, therefore, that it has only 

 been procured within the very limited district stretching from Matale 10 miles north of Kandy, to Deltota, 

 about 12 miles, in a direct line, to the south of the town. This part of the hill-region of Ceylon, it should lie 

 remarked, is that in which most of the birds are shot that are sent to Messrs. Whyte and Co.'s for preser- 

 vation, inasmuch as they can be forwarded by Coolie runners, and skinned before suffering from the decom- 

 posing effects of tropical heat ; it is not, therefore, to be inferred that the habitat of the Ceylon Baza is 

 restricted to such a very small tract of country as this, but rather that it is a hill-bird scattered throughout the 



* I have just heard, since correcting the proof of this article, from Mr. Hume, that he has lately received a young 

 specimen of a Baza from the Wynaad, which he considers must be identical with this species. Mr. Hume has not. as 

 far as I am aware, seen examples of B. ceylonensis ; but his surmise may be correct. I accordingly put it doubtfully 

 " peculiar to Ceylon." 



t In the interests of Ceylon ornithology I am constrained to make some remarks on Mr. Whyte's note on this species. 

 Were it not my aim to give a faithful history of all the peculiar Ceylonese forms, I should not have referred to the 

 subject. It is difficult to see in what sense the writer uses the word " discovered." The species was in reality discovered 

 by the collector who shot it ; for the specimens were afterwards skinned, sold unidentified, and lost for ever to science ! 

 In continuation of the above paragraph, follows : — " Three more specimens have been collected by us, one of which Captain 

 Legge obtained from us." Two of these I will remark are comprised in the pair shot, by Mr. Davidson and sent to 

 Messrs. Whyte and Co.'s for preservation, one of which Mr. Whyte sold me under the impression that it was a Crested 

 Goshawk (a not unlikely mistake for one who had formed no acquaintance with the genus Baza) : and the other he sent 

 me on the order of Mr. Fraser, of Colombo, a friend of Mr. Davidson, and who kindly presented it to me. The words 

 collected by us, in reference to this pair are therefore misapplied. When I wrote to Mr. Whyte, shortly after the 

 purchase of the type specimen, that it was a new Baza, I much wish that he had informed me of his having previously 

 received a pair. I could then have made inquiries concerning the birds, and shoidd perhaps have succeeded hi tracing 

 them to their destination: in which case I could have verified Mr, Whvte's identification. 



