416 Capt. Beavan on various Indian Birds. 



mandible of a purplish-blue. The irides are dark brown, the 

 legs a light plumbeous-green, with lead-coloured claws, and the 

 soles of the feet a dirty yellow — in some dirty white, with bluish- 

 horny claws ; but of course these soft colours are not likely to 

 appear exactly the same in every individual killed, since they 

 begin to fade so soon after death ; hence the discrepancy. The 

 dimensions are as follows : — 



Tarsus. Bill from front. Extent. 

 1-125 1-5 18 



1-25 1-375 16-75 



the height of the bill at the base in the latter specimen being 

 •5625 in. Dr. Jerdon^s description of the call of this species is 

 very good. 



197. Xanthol^ma iNDicA. Crimson-breasted Barbet. 



The dimensions of a specimen procured at Moulmein in Sep- 

 tember 1865, agree fairly with those recorded (Ibis, 1865, 

 p. 412*) from Maunbhoom. Length 6'625, wing 3*375, tail 

 1*75, tarsus "75, extent 10*5 in. In December 1864, as I was 

 passing through a tope or grove of mango-trees in Maunbhoom, 

 I heard a loud " tap-tap " in one of the trees, as if a Woodpecker 

 was hard at work. Being anxious to secure it, if possible, I 

 tried in vain for some time to discover its whereabouts, but at 

 last spied the author of the noise, clinging to the underside of 

 a middle-sized bough, and pecking at the wood. I shot it in the 

 act, and it turned out to be a bird of this species. The fact of the 

 Barbets tapping wood with their beak is doubted by Dr. Jerdon f ; 

 but in this case there can be no question about the matter. Its 

 stomach, however, on examination contained only fruit and 

 seeds ; but there was nothing to be found in its crop, so that it 

 evidently was not feeding at the time I killed it. 



200. CucuLUS HIMA.LAYANUS. Himalayan Cuckoo. 



The following is a description of a specimen procured at Simla 



* The native name of tliis bird is " Phoonk-bussimt," ftovuplioonkna, to 

 sound, and hussunt, an old woman (Jidc Jerdon, B. Ind. i. p. 313), — not 

 " Phoouk Lussunt." 



t The Doctor, however {torn. cit. p. 307), says that he believes " they 

 excavate holes [in trees] for themselves, though this has been doubted ; " 

 if so, the process would probably necessitate some tapping. 



