214 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



We obtained some 40 eggs from different nests, and as many of them were 

 quite fresh we were able to blow them easily. About a dozen eggs were 

 brought on board the ship and carried to Port Blair with the intention of 

 hatching the young birds out. We kept them in some buckets of sand for 

 some time ; but they were forgotten, the sand was taken away, and they lay in 

 the open air exposed even to the rain without any protection. On our arri- 

 val at Port Blair the eggs were sent up to the Chief Commissioner's house 

 for the purpose of being blown, but one morning, about three weeks after 

 they had been taken from the nest, one chicken hatched out, the next day 

 another one appeared, and in all five or six were successfully hatched, and 

 when I left Port Blair a few weeks ago, there were four young Megapodes 

 left as healthy and lively as possible. They are fed on white-anta entirely, 

 and seem to flourish on this diet. 



J. H. St. JOHN, Lieut., 

 Commanding R.I.M.S. " Elphinstone." 

 Bombay, June, 1898. ., 



No. IV.— A VORACIOUS CENTIPEDE. 

 A few days ago a toad was found on the gravel path outside the officers' 

 mess with a large orange and black centipede {Scolopendra gigantea) coiled 

 round its back. The centipede's head was just behind the toad's fore-leg 

 on the left side, and it had eaten a large hole in the side of the toad. Both 

 were captured and a photograph was taken of them. After a little time the 

 centipede left off eating the toad and apparently went to sleep. Eventually 

 vshen the centipede was removed the toad was able to hop away in spite of 

 the large hole which had been made in its side. 



H. WELLS-COLE, Capt., 

 2nd K. 0. Yorkshii-e Light Infantry. 

 Ahmednaqak, June, 1898. 



No. v.- WHITE SPOTS ON THE PLUMAGE OF A WOODPECKER 

 ATTACKED BY A PARASITE. 



I lately obtained two specimens of Dendrocopus andamanensis , the 

 Andaman Pied Woodpecker, and I should like to have an opinion as to what 

 it is that eats into the margins of the secondary feathers in such a 

 peculiar manner. Is it the work of a parasite or is it abrasion ? The curious 

 thing is that it is always the white spots on the secondaries which are eaten 

 out. It seems to me to be done by a parasite — some minu e tinea which feeds 

 on the plumage of the living bird, though I failed to detect any such in 

 examining the freshly shot birds. Whatever causes it, this ragged condition 

 of the secondary feathers with the white spots cut out is remarkably com- 

 iflon in this Woodpecker, iu which I have noticed it repeatedly. 



