XXIV 
IMEODUCTION. 
jungles teem with msect-life, and all forest-birds are busy rearing their young. In very moist 
districts, such as Eatnapura and the Passedun Korale, eggs may be found in August and even 
l l bre eders in the Western Province maybe cited the Barbels and Wood- 
peckers On the eastern side of the island many birds commence to breed in November and 
thTfwTb o' 18 hea 'Tn K T , ar<i &1Ung : iM ^ SeaS °“ C ° ntinues - never theless, throughout 
the hist three or four months of the year, and many birds may be found nesting, as on the western 
side, in May and June In the hills, and more particularly in the upper ranges, where the ni»hts 
are cold and frosty in January and February, the nesting-season commences at the end of March 
or beginning of April, and continues until June and July, corresponding in this respect with the 
bi-eeding-ume ,n temperate climates. In the north of Ceylon the larger Waders (Ardeidie) and 
the Water-birds that breed with them, commence to nest in November • but on the tu 
coast the season is later, the Heronries not being resorted to as a rule I £ ^ j“ 
on the plan of the Work. 1st. Classification. -The classification followed in this 
work is totally different from that used by Jerdon, principally taken from Gray and wMch 
rsrssasrsrtr ” 
- •• 
<>"„)■ among local students of the science in Ceylon, it behoved me to adopt that 
system which appeared to me to accord best with the generally recognized affinities of the various 
°! “ o Whl0h , the Coy 10 ” 68 ® divides itself, and at the same time coincided lest with the 
classification employed bj Jerdon, and which I am aware many who have taken up the study of 
ornithology m Ceylon are familiar with. The divisions adopted have been Orders (in one case 
also a Suborder), Families and Subfamilies, and, in the great Order Passeres, Section, have also 
been made use of. 1 he Acc, pitres, or Birds of Prey, have been granted precedence simply „ 
very favourite and specialized order, and because it has until recently k ... 15 8 
English ornithologists to follow Gray and place them fir Th P , PIaCtlC<i am0D *' 
possession of a cere and a very high degree of nil, „ " Pair0 ‘ 8 in the 
from the Hawks. The intereltilg 0^ ar l ThilT l<> ^ "* * «*“* 
has a double notch, inasmuch as many of its P ' ° f the stem ™ 
Parrots. The satisfactory arrangement of thl'llV'T^p. Zyg ° daCtyle feet > oomes next 11 "- 1 
and here the system adopted by Mr. Wallace in classifying ''"'l' 1>lesents great Acuities; 
adopted. The Columbus) are a ^ 
Game-bn-ds (aptly called Easores, or “ Scratches,” by some systematists must of n , ’ " 
next the Passeres. In the arrangement of the remaining orders in til work fr IT' 1°'"°'’ 
Anseres, Pygopodes, Herodiones, and Steganopodes) I have followed the I f *’ ^ 
on the subioct, considering these six orders as naturally divide o tie grTl^ 
“;»t? ■*' ft “ “■***•- 
v , f v , . owa llnear arrangement; but nevertheless there are forms in 
each of the orders composing these tivn a • , xoims in 
P tnese two divisions which possess affinities for one another, and 
