No. 7.] AVHITEAVES — HIMALAYAN BIRDS. 405 



none, and forsook them immediately when fruit was offered. It 

 has a remarkably loud note wliich sounds like ' took-took-took,' 

 and this it generally utters when rested at the top of some tree, 

 putting its head at each call first on one side and then on the 

 other. Sundevall states that the call is like a low note on the 

 flute, from the lower G to the second E. This sound, and tlie 

 motion of the head accompanying it, have given origin to the 

 name "coppersmith,*' by which this species is known by both 

 natives and Europeans. The sound often appears to come from' 

 a different direction to that from which it does really proceed ; 

 this appears to me to depend on the direction of the bird's head. 

 Mr. Phillips accounts for it by saying that it alters the intensit}' 

 of its call. Sundevall remarks that the same individual always 

 utters the same note, but that two of these birds are seldom 

 heard to make it alike. When, therefore, two or more individuals 

 are sitting near each other, a not unpleaslng music arises from 

 the alternation of the note, each sounding like the tone of a 

 series of bells. The Crimson-Breasted Barbet breeds in holes of 

 trees, laying two or more white eggs. A pair bred in my garden 

 at Sangor on the cross beam of a vinery. The perfectly circular 

 entrance was on the underside of the beam. This nest appeared 

 to me to have been used for several years, and the bird had gone 

 on lengthening the cavity year by year, till tlic distance from the 

 original entrance was four or five feet ; another entrance had 

 then been made also from below about two feet and a half from 

 the nest. Quite recently I discovered a nest built by this bird 

 in a hole of a decayed tree branch, close to a house in a large 

 thoroughfiire in Calcutta." 



The typical genus Capito, wliich embraces the Puff birds, is 

 confined to South America, all the other genera are to be met 

 with only in the eastern hemisphere. The two beautiful species 

 of Woodpecker belong to a group usually known as the Ground 

 or Cuckoo W^oodpeckers. These are usually less arboreal in their 

 habits than the ordinary kinds, and are somewhat closely allied 

 to the Golden- winged Woodpecker of Canada. They often feed 

 on the ij;round, in ants' nests and amongst the dune; of animals. 

 They are said to be fond of green corn and of fruits, but like 

 the rest of the group sometimes feed on trees and always nidi- 

 ficate in them. Generally speaking, the beaks of the ground 

 W^oodpeckers are less robust and strong than are those of the 

 exclusively tree hunting species. 

 Vol. VII. Bp Xo, 7. 



