APPENDIX I. 1213 



backed birds so far into the forests as this, and I did not like to split the species into two ; but I am convinced that 

 B. intermedins is a forest race, if nothing more, of B. puncticollis. It will probably have to be added to the list. From 

 observation of both races, which meet in the Giants'-tank district, he finds that they do not associate together, and have 

 slightly different habits, which one can notice better when both are seen in the same locality. It would be interesting to 

 know whether such is the case on the borders of the hill-forests iu the south of India. Its note is different from that 

 of the G-olden-backed "Woodpecker, resembling that of B. ceylonus, but not so much a scream, and continued for less 

 time. 



The female specimen mentioned in my explanation of the plate (p. 207) has been omitted. 



Page 212. — Megalcema flavifrons. The bill of this species (Plate to face article on M. zeylcmica) is wrongly coloured. 

 Almost throughout the entire series of Plates the accurate colouring of the " soft parts," in accordance with my data on 

 the labels of the specimens, has been disregarded by my artist Mr. Keulemans. Alterations had frequently to be made, 

 but in this case the defect was overlooked. 



Page 258. — Zanclostomus viridirostris. Mr. Parker has kindly presented me with two eggs taken from a nest of 

 this Cuckoo found in the N.W. Province near TTswewa. They are pure white, short, broad ovals, very rounded at the 

 ends, slightly rough in texture, and measure 1-17 by - 97 and 1 - 17 by 1*0 inch. They were taken in the early part of 

 1879. 



Page 260. — Centropus rufipcnnis. With regard to this G-round-Cuckoo's habit of killing snakes, I append an extract 

 from some MS. notes of the late Mr. E. L. Mitford, Government Agent at Eatnapura, and one who was an accurate 

 observer of birds. Speaking of one of these birds he says, " I saw the Cuckoo attack and kill a long green whip-snake. 

 It chased the snake through the branches of a tree till it fell to the ground, and then attacked its head from behind. 

 The snake tried to bite the aggressor in the neck, but it seemed to bite only the feathers ; and at one time the bird 

 was enveloped in its coil. After disabling it by repeated blows on the head the Cuckoo seized it by the neck and 

 flew off to the jungle, the tail of the snake catching and winding round the sticks and branches it passed over 

 and checking the bird's flight." 



Page 275. — Tockus gingalensis. This bird will thrive in confinement. Mr. Parker kept one for a month, and 

 it was doing well when a cat killed it. It fed readily on plaintains, given it in pieces, which it tossed down its 

 throat with a jerk of its head. 



Page 278. — Upupa nigripennis. This species should stand as Uptjpa ceylcwensis of Eeichenbach. I erred in 

 using a MS. name, the date of which (though I could not ascertain it from Mr. Gould) is known to have been 

 prior to Eeichenbach's ceylonensis (1851). Mr. Hume has corrected my mistake (Str. Feath. 1878, p. 517) ; I did 

 not, however, intend 1856 to stand as the first date for nigripennis of Gould. 



Page 285. — Eurystomus orientalis. This handsome and, in Ceylon, rare species was obtained on the Dammitenne 

 Estate, Lemastota, by a collector of the Colombo Museum, in the early part of 1879 ; and Mr. Bligh, my informant, 

 saw an example again a week afterwards in the same valley. At this elevation, about 2500 feet, and from that to 

 1500, I think it is generally seen in the hill-districts. 



Page 303. — Ceyx tridactyla. On the Arrive aar or Malwatta oya, some distance inland from Aripu, Mr. Parker 

 tells me that this species is as plentiful as the large Buff-breasted Kingfisher, Pelargopsis gurial. He remarks on their 

 habit of washing themselves, a somewhat abnormal one in a Kingfisher, one would think. They wash like Flycatchers, 

 " darting down from a branch, and barely dipping themselves under water." 



Page 306. — Merops philippinus. This Bee-eater, which has been recorded by few from Sumatra, is mentioned by 

 Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay as having been obtained there by Mr. Carl Bock in 1878. 



Page 309.— Merops viridis. The colour of the legs of this species varies. I find it recorded in my field-notes as 

 " fleshy grey ;" " brown, with grey edges to the scales ;" " brownish ;" " blackish, with pale edges." 



Page 312.— Merops swinhoii. Levaillant's name should be expunged from the synonymy. This species breeds in the 

 North-western Province in April. From the Nikaweratiya district Mr. Parker sends me some particulars concerning its 

 nidification. The nests were excavated in a bank by the roadside near the Deduru oya, and were about 2 feet 6 inches 

 deep, with an enlarged chamber at the end similar to that mentioned at p. 313. Between 7 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. a pair 



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