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Galloperdix bicalcaratus, Pennant. 



Vernacular ITamSS. — [Haban (or Uban) Kukula, Ceylon.] 



HAVE never seen this species, which is peculiar to the 

 Island of Ceyon, in a wild state. Mr. Hart remarks : — 

 " Our Spur-Fowl is nearly confined to the Western 

 and Central Provinces, and the northern portions 

 of the Southern Provinces. Closely as I have explored 

 these, I have never seen or heard of the bird in the 

 Northern or Eastern Provinces proper, although it 

 may just cross the borders of the Western and Central Provin- 

 ces into these.'' 



Captain Legge, the able historian of the Birds of Ceylon, 

 on the other hand, writes to me somewhat differently and in 

 greater detail in regard to the distribution of this species, and 

 I can only hope that I have correctly identified the places indi- 

 cated in his rather puzzling manuscript : — 



" The Ceylonese Spur-Fowl has a somewhat singular range 

 in the island. It is numerous in the jungles and forests of the 

 south-west, in the interior of the Western Province, in the dis- 

 trict of Saffragam, and finally in the Eastern Province, and 

 inhabits the wooded regions of the Kandyan country, up to 

 above 5,000 feet, ascending still higher during the cool season. 

 How far north of the Batticaloa district it extends, I am 

 unable to say. It is common enough in the Friar's Hood Hills, 

 and also in similar jungles near Nilgalla, and I have no doubt 

 is found in the forests at Bintenne, which it ought certainly to 

 affect in common with the wooded northern and eastern 

 slopes of the Knuckles ranges, where it is far from uncommon, 

 In the Western Province it appears to be local, for there are 

 many localities in which, during my wanderings, I failed to 

 hear its unmistakable notes. In the many jungles near Atturn- 

 geria it used to be heard, and I have likewise listened to its 

 cackling in other forests in the Hewagam Korak. About Ambe- 

 pussa it is not uncommon, the damp woods clothing the 

 labyrinth of hills in that district furnishing it with a secure 

 retreat. On the side of the central zone I have not traced it 

 further north than the Kurimegala district, and I do not find 

 it recorded by my correspondents from Puttalam or Anaradjo- 

 pura." 



