2 Mr. A. Hume on Indian Ornithulugy. 



and we are now having a few days' break of bright weather. 

 Very hot and steamy it is all day ; but when in the early morn- 

 ing we emerged from the house the air was inexpressibly fresh 

 and cool, and every little breeze was perfumed by a huge dome- 

 shaped shrub of what is called, I think, the Spanish Jasmine 

 {Plumieria acuminata), that stands, in full flower, some thirty 

 yards from the house. 



The rains appear to have a wonderful effect upon many of our 

 Insessores. Of a vast number of species, individuals will indeed 

 be found laying languidly throughout the latter part of the hot 

 weather; but it is not until the rains come down that the great 

 mass of the birds begin to lay in earnest. Three weeks ago 

 we searched our compound pretty thoroughly ; and the only 

 nests it then contained were two of Xantholcema indica and 

 one of Megalcema caniceps. Both these well-known Barbets 

 excavate holes in trees, and therein lay long oval thin-shelled 

 eggs, which are like polished alabaster when blown, but when 

 fresh, owing to the yelk showing partially through, seem of a 

 delicate salmon-pink. The same peculiarity is noticeable in 

 many birds that lay in holes ; it is specially conspicuous in two 

 of our commonest Woodpeckers, Picus mahrattensis and Bra- 

 chypternus aurantius. Both the Barbets seem to be able to find 

 out branches that are decayed internally, although to the human 

 eye exhibiting no external signs of this : and into such, through 

 the harder outer shell of the branch, they cut a perfectly cir- 

 cular hole, with the edges neatly bevelled off inside and out. 

 The eggs are at the bottom of the cavity into which they have 

 thus bored (and which they smooth a good deal interiorly), often 

 a couple of feet below the door, and laid merely on the chips that 

 they have made. Very noisy birds are the Barbets ; the little 

 Xantholmna indica is known throughout the length and breadth 

 of the land by its everlasting "too, too, too, too," which in 

 some parts has earned it the name of " the Coppersmith," from 

 the peculiar metallic ring of its single note. Pretty as it is, 

 it is anything but a favourite bird amongst Europeans, as, com- 

 paratively silent during the cold weather, its incessant note is 

 an only too sure harbinger of the hot season. Natives view 

 the matter differently ; and their poets give a conspicuous place 



