Excerpt from Catalogue of the Birds Found in Ceylon: With Some Remarks on Their Habits and Local Distribution, and Descriptions of Two New Species Peculiar to the Island Bay of Bengal; and then very often there Is stormy weather on the Ceylon coast. At the first decided indication of the N. E. Monsoon setting in, the true migratory birds begin to appear they are gene rally first seen in the north and north west of the island, and gra dually extend over the western side and to the hills. At the same time there 15 a large influx of resident species to these parts of the country, which during this N. E. Monsoon are less exposed to the violence of the wind than in the other season. There is no positive evidence whence these birds come; but I think there can be little doubt that it is from the eastern side and some parts of the central districts. Many of them are certainly found there during the s.w. Monsoon; but no continuous observations have been made on the eastern side, and there is little known of what resident Ceylon Species are to be met with there at any particular season. It being a great game country, Europeans who visit the eastern jungles devote their time more to Sporting than to natural history. I may give an instance showing that there must be a good deal yet to be done in certain parts of the country. In February 1871 I obtained at Nuwara Eliya two specimens of a Flycatcher (erythrosterna hype; ythra) of which the type specimen in the Berlin Museum, obtained In 1866, was the only one known; it came from the Ceylon hills but that species is certainly not found In the hill districts during a great part of' the year, and yet it has not been observed elsewhere*. Towards the close of February the ne. Monsoon comes to an end, and is followed by five or six weeks of fine calm weather before the usually stormy burst of the s.w. Monsoon. The migratory birds now take their departure, and many species resident in the island leave its western side. A Tern, however, in immature plumage and believed to be Sterna gra cilia has only been observed on the Ceylon coast in summer; but as the Ceylon summer is at the same time as the Australian winter, the fact of this Tern being found at Colombo in July is an additional reason for believing it to be that Australian species. I have also only seen Frigate-birds during the summer; but Mr. Layard has recorded their occurrence in February. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.