NOTES. 
191 
skin from Colombo, presented by the Ceylon Branch of the Royal 
Asiatic Society in October, 1873. Legge (Birds of Ceylon, p. 960) 
records this bird as having been procured only twice in Ceylon, 
namely, by Mr. Bligh on the Galle Face at Colombo during the 
cool season about the year 1870, and by Mr. MacVicar in the same 
spot on 17th October, 1873. The latter specimen is presumably the 
one which was presented in that year to the Museum. None has 
since been recorded locally until this year. Dr^Blanford (Fauna 
Brit. Ind., Birds, vol. IV., p. 232) describes it as “a migratory 
bird breeding in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and visiting 
North-Eastern Africa and North-Western India in winter.” It 
occurs in flocks from four or five to fifty or sixty in number, 
arriving in India about the beginning of October and leaving 
about March. The occurrence of a stray example in Colombo is 
always noteworthy. 
(2) On 12th June another example of the Lesser Frigate Bird 
(Fregata artel), an oceanic species already referred to in this 
journal," was captured alive at Uplands, Mutwal, and sent to the 
Museum by Mr. J. H. Bostock. It arrived, as usual, in an ex¬ 
hausted condition and died soon afterwards. It was a young male: 
the skin has been preserved. 
(3) A male Indian Pittaf {Pitta brachyura ), in perfect plumage, 
was taken alive at Kollupitiya, but soon died, and was then 
brought to the Museum on 29th September, where it has been 
mounted. 
(4) On 30th October a male specimen of the Banded Crake 
(Rallina super ciliaris), variously known as the Brown Rail or the 
Ruddy Rail, flew into a bungalow at Maradana and was caught and 
given to the Museum. Another example was taken shortly after¬ 
wards under similar conditions at Bambalapitiya,and a third was 
sent from Darley House. It is a common migratory bird, and, like 
the Pitta, it is one of those which occasionally crash into bunga¬ 
lows in the heat of their migratory flight, sometimes coming into 
violent and fatal collision with the walls of buildings. 
(5) At the end of October and during the month of November 
several Malay Bitterns ( Gorsachius melanolophus , a handsome, not 
uncommon north-east migrant) were taken alive in the roads and 
houses of Colombo. One of them flew into the ball-room at 
Queen’s House at night, and was kindly forwarded to the Museum 
by His Excellency the Governor on 24th November. Another was 
caught while running about the Fort, pursued by crows, and was 
sent up by Mr. James Dorman. 
* Vol. I., Part III., 1903, p. 78, where it was named, in error, Fregata aquila. 
t See Spolia Zeylamca. Part III., p. 78. 
8(25)04 2 c 
