122 Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth on Ceylonese Birds. 
and Mr. Fuller were inclined to consider tlie uncrested bird 
a distinct species. 
Apteryx mantelli. 
The few instances that Captain Hutton records do not suf¬ 
fice to make Apteryx mantelli a common species in the North 
Island. Its practical scarcity may be inferred from the fact 
that an offer of £5 for a specimen, which appeared some years 
ago in the Maori newspaper, failed to obtain one. 
I must here record my total dissent from the opinion ex¬ 
pressed by Captain Hutton, and based on the structure of the 
egg-shell, that Apteryx “belongs to the Carinate type of birds” 
(Trans. N. Z. Inst. iv. p. 167); for such a view is entirely op¬ 
posed to the principles of modern classification. 
XVI .—Remarks on Mr. Legge } s Paper on Ceylonese Birds . 
By E. W. H. Holdsworth, F.L.S. &c. 
The publication of Mr. Legge's observations on the distribu¬ 
tion of birds in the southern hill-region of Ceylon will doubt¬ 
less be received with satisfaction by all who are interested in 
the somewhat peculiar avifauna of that island; and I espe¬ 
cially am glad of the information he gives about a district 
with which I have had only a slight personal acquaintance. 
Mr. Legge is an active worker, and has told us some interest¬ 
ing ornithological news; but there are some points in con¬ 
nexion with particular species mentioned by him about which 
more precise information would be desirable, and one or two 
others which are perhaps open to criticism. As we are both 
anxious to have an accurate account of the manners and 
customs of the birds of the island placed on record, some 
comments will, I hope, not be considered altogether out of 
place. 
The particular point of interest to me in Mr. Legge's paper 
is the record of the occurrence at 1500 or 2000 feet, in the 
south of the island, of birds hitherto supposed to be generally 
confined to the upper hills, and especially abundant at an 
elevation of about 6000 feet in the central province. 
