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and back, and a few chocolate-coloured immature signs on 
the thigh-coverts and*under wing-coverts. The wing mea- 
sured 14°5 inches; another Ceylon-killed specimen in my 
collection has the wing the same length. i 
I have just returned from: a tour through the “park” 
country of the eastern province and the eastern slopes of the 
mountain-zone. As regards the distribution of our species, 
the latter district presents very remarkable features, owing to 
the mountains being bare and rising up immediately from 
the low country (which is, itself, intersected by innumerable 
hills, based on a low level), without a barrier of forest as on 
the western side; the consequence is, that low-country 
birds range all through Madoolseema and Uva* to great al- 
titudes, and some hill-birds range down into the low country. 
Paleornis calthrope is abundant in the “ park” country at 400 
feet elevation; Xantholema indica ranges up to 3000 or 
4000 feet, Buchanga cerulescens the same, Picus mahrat- 
tensis up to 8000, and so on. This Barbet and Drongo are 
the species of the eastern province. But more of all this 
anon. I am, dear Sir, 
Faithfully yours, 
Trincomalie, Ceylon. W. V. Leecs, Capt. R.A. 
8th November, 1875. 
P.S. There is a misprint in the last volume of ‘ The Ibis,’ ' 
p. 283, where the length of the wing of Chrysocolaptes fes- 
tivus is given as 2°8 instead of 5:8. 
Srir,—In a letter to me, dated Nov. 16th, 1875, Heligo- 
land, Mr. Gatke observes :—“ This fall has been ‘awfully 
bad,’ nothing but storms from all quarters, with cold down- 
pours. The last autumn was had, but this one infinitely 
worse: all I got is a fine specimen of Hmberiza rustica, an 
E. pusilla, also a Muscicapa parva ; Woodcocks, Thrushes, 
and Blackbirds scarcely any.” 
Mr. Giatke also remarks that, on running up all notes about 
Phylloscopus superciliosus, he finds some fifty have undoubt- 
edly been seen, and of these about twenty captured, since Oc- 
* Our two eastern coffee-districts, 



