656 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol.XV. 



u This Woodpecker excavates a nest out of dead wood, boring into the 

 dead branch of a living tree or choosing a dead tree. Like all wood- 

 peckers, it never makes use of the same nest again. I have never been 

 able to obtain the eggs. They breed in February. " 



(146) Thriponax hodgsoni. — The Malabar Great Black 



Woodpecker. 

 Blanford, No. 997 ; Jerdon, No. 169. 

 This is eminently a forest bird and may be found on the hills from 500 

 to 3,000 feet, going about in pairs. Where there is coffee or tea cultiva- 

 tion it usually disappears — not that it is a shy bird, but because of the 

 wholesale destruction of the forests. In the cardamom hills, where the 

 forests are only thinned and the undergrowth removed to make room for 

 cardamoms, they are fairly common, and they may be heard calling to 

 each other as they fly from tree to tree. 



(147) Picumnus innominatus. — The Speckled Piculet. 



Blanford, No. 1001 ; Jerdon, No. 186. 

 I have only shot one specimen of this bird on the hills in South Tra- 

 vancore at an elevation of 4,000 feet in dense forest. I saw one other 

 specimen on the same day. Both were on living trees. 



(148) Thereiceryx zeylonicds. — The Common Indian Green 



Barbet. 

 Blanford, No. 1008 ; Jerdon, No. 193. 

 This Barbet is not common in the low country. I once shot one at 

 4,000 feet elevation in the hills. 



(149) Thereiceryx viridis — The Small Green Barbet. 

 Blanford, No. 1010; Jerdon, No. 194. 

 This is a very common bird, both in the low country and on the hills at 

 all elevaiions. " The eggs of this Barbet are extremely difficult to obtain 

 as the bird invariably chooses a dead tree in which to bore a hole for its 

 nest. Sometimes these trees are of great growth and defy any attempts 

 to climb them ; at others they are too slight to bear the weight of a man, 

 and though I have seen dozens of nests and had young birds brought to 

 me, I have never been able to get the eggs. The birds never use the 

 nests a<nun, but frequently return to the same tree, and as they often 

 o-ive up boring holes which they have commenced, it is not an unusual 

 thing to see a tree with ten or fifteen holes in it. The breeding season 

 extends from March to May.— T. F. B." 



