INTRODUCTION. 
xxviii 
due for aid rendered as regards the several groups which they have made their study. I must 
not forget to acknowledge the assistance rendered to me by Mr. F. H. Waterhouse, Librarian of 
the Zoological Society, in answering my frequent queries as to references and data from the 
many scientific works required to be consulted, and which, from time to time, I omitted to 
collect while prosecuting my studies in London. Mr. Holdsworth’s kindness in giving me access 
to his valuable collection of Ceylon birds, and also benefiting me by his opinion on matters 
connected with island distribution &c., has been of much service to me. The premature death 
of the late Marquis of Tweeddale, and the consequent closing to the scientific world for the 
time being of his collection, was no small loss to the author, who was at the time just entering 
on the study of the Passerine birds, and reaping the advantage of that correspondence which this 
distinguished ornithologist was always ready to enter into with his brother naturalists. By this 
untoward event an anticipated visit to the magnificent collection at Yester, which, on a former 
trip I had only time to glance at, was also put aside. On his return to England from Afghanistan, 
Captain Wardlaw Ramsay, into whose possession the collection passed, kindly lent me such 
specimens connected with the Third Part of the work as I required. To Canon Tristram, also 
I am indebted for the loan of eggs and skins of several interesting species. I have likewise to 
acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of information on various points from Herr Meyer, of 
the Royal Museum at Dresden, Herr Yon Pelzeln of the Imperial Museum at Vienna, and 
Mr. Edward Nolan, Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. From a 
still more distant region, New Caledonia, I have had the advantage of correspondence with my 
enthusiastic forerunner in the field of Ceylon ornithology, Edgar Layard, who from time to 
time supplied me with details of his old experiences in the island. 
Last, but not least, I must acknowledge with gratitude the aid I have received from my 
correspondents in India and Ceylon. Of the former I must mention particularly Mr. Allan Iiume 
C.B., and likewise not omit the names of Mr. Blanford, F.R.S., President of the Asiatic Society 
of Bengal, Captain Butler, 83rd Regt., and Dr. Edie, of the Madras Museum. In Ceylon my 
valued correspondents Messrs. Bligh and Parker, Ceylon Public Works Department, kept me 
constantly supplied with new material concerning the habits and nullification of many species : 
the former furnished me with copious notes on hill-birds, while the latter worked hard on the 
little-known districts of the north-west, and, being a most enthusiastic lover of birds and a close 
observer of Nature, the information supplied by him has been most valuable. In point of fact 
the better part of the Appendices is made up of material supplied by this gentleman from the 
Manaar district, where he has recently gone to be stationed. To Messrs. H. MacViear Forbes 
Laurie, R. Wickham, L. Holden, E. Cobbold, Captain Wade-Dalton, and other gentlemen now 
or formerly resident in the island, I am indebted for notes on the habits and local distribution 
of several interesting species. In conclusion, I am constrained to remark that had others among 
my Subscribers corresponded as vigorously with me during the progress of the work at 
Messis. Bligh, Parker, and Mac\ icar, much more local information would have been contained 
in it. 
w. y. l. 
