DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN THE SOCIETY'S MUSEUM. 



29 



inland in the Western Province, those of the south-west from 

 Baddegama to the toot of the hills, and the vast stretches of 

 timbered country between the Northern road and Trineomalee. 

 I have never seen or heard of any examples of this Cuckoo from 

 the Central Province or southern hills, and am therefore of the 

 opinion that it is exclusively confined to the low-country. 



Note, — The discovery that I made last January of this and other 

 Ceylon birds hitherto only recorded from the Southern and Central 

 Provinces, such as Oreocincla spiloptera, Chrysocolaptes Strick- 

 landi, Drymocataphus fuscicapillus, and the present species, in 

 the northern forests between Anuradhapura and Trineomalee, very 

 agreeably surprised me, and it only shews how imperfectly the 

 more remote parts of the Island have been worked, and how much 

 information as regards some peculiar Ceylon birds there is yet in 

 store for the persevering naturalist. 



47. Zanclostomus Viridirostris, Jerdon— The £re en- 

 billed Malkoha. Mal-koha, Sink, — Layard, Annals Natural 

 History, 1854, volume 13, page 453 ; Kelaart, Prodromus Fauna* 

 Zeylanica, page 129. 



Widely distributed throughout the low-country; tolerably frequent 

 in the south-west in low, thick, scrubby jungle near the sea 

 (Watering Point, &o.); abundant in the districts of the south-east, 

 also in the maritime districts near Trineomalee, and, according to 

 Hoklsworth, in the neighbourhood of Aripu and Mannar. It 

 occurs, but not very frequently, in the Western Province. 



43. Nectarophila Zeylonica, Z^w.— The yellow-breasted 

 Honey-eater. " Sunbird," "Humming bird" of Europeans; 

 Leptocomo apud Cabanis, Nectarina Zeylonica, Linn. — Layard, 

 Annals Natural History, 1853, page .'75; Kelaart Prodromus 

 Faunae Zeylanica, page 119, 



Found in abundance in all parts of the Island (except the north-west, 

 where II olds worth and Layard did not observe it) up to 4,000 feet 

 in the Central Province. Most abundant in the Western and 

 Southern Provinces; tolerably numerous all throughout the north- 

 east up to Jaffna; found on all patanas of the coffee districts, and 

 frequents the forests of the low-country when certain trees are in 

 flower. 



iNote. — Layard, loc. cit., remarks that Nectarina minima replaces 

 this species in the north. It is not clear what part he writes of, 

 except it be the north-west. I did not meet with it anywhere in 

 the Trineomalee district, nor have I even been fortunate enough 

 to procure a specimen in Ceylon, so that I imagine it is very rare. 

 N. Zeylonica is common enough about the Is 7 aval Port, 



