DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN THE SOCIETY'S MUSEUM. 17 



and Trincomalee harbours and the Jaffna lake, though not so 

 numerous in the latter part as Milvus Govinda; frequents paddy- 

 lands in many districts far inland, and breeds sometimes as far as 

 thirty or forty miles up large rivers. 



5. Milvus Govinda, Sykes — Pariah Kite. 



Numerous only about the Jaffna peninsula and down the west coast 

 as far as Kalpitiya and Chilaw districts; extends sparingly to 

 the south; pairs now and then seen in Galle and Matara districts, 

 but I have not observed it on the south-east coast. Affects Trin- 

 comalee harbour in the south-west monsoon, but leaves in the 

 north-east. 



Note.— It is strange that this Kite should be comparatively 

 local in Ceylon, when it is so widely distributed round the Indian 

 coast. I have seen it in no part of the Island so abundant as 

 about the town of Jaffna. 



6. Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gmelin. — Kestrel. 



The Kestrel, which is a winter visitor to Ceylon, is found all round 

 the coast wherever there are rocky cliffs, about which it always 

 remains, roosting on the same spot the whole season. I did not 

 observe it on the south-east coast, but it no doubt affects that 

 part as well as Trincomalee, Jaffna, and all round the west coast 

 to Galle, where an individual takes up its abode each year regularly 

 at the high corner of the ramparts overlooking the sea. Arrives 

 about first week in October, and leaves again as late as the 20th 

 .April in the extreme south. Layard says of this bird, Annals 

 Natural History, 1853, page 102, "common in all open plains 

 throughout the Island which are dotted with jungle." I conclude 

 he means open plains along the sea border, as I have never 

 observed it far inland; the only district where I should imagine it 

 would be found at any distance from the sea, would be the Northern 

 Province, south of Jaffna, and in the upper part of the Vanni. 



7. Micronisus badius, Gmelin.— The " Shikra," Indian 

 Sparrow-hawk : Accipiter Badius — Layard, Annals Natural His- 

 tory, 1853, page 104; Kelaart, Prodromus Faunas Zeylanica, page 

 115. 



Common throughout the low country on both sides of the Island; 

 abundant in the north-east of the Province and in the south; 

 extends into the Central Province up to 4,000 feet; occurs 

 frequently in Dumbara. 



8. Elanus M-elanopterus, Dcntd. — The black-shouldered 

 Kite; Layard, Annals Natural History, 1853, page 104. 



Western Province, hill district of south-west and flat country of the 

 south-east; occurs at Bope and throughout the Rayigam and 



D 



