250 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 34 



torrents; the crow's bag absorbed and retained the water and, of 

 course, got continually heavier, the drongo's load became continually 

 lighter owing to the washing away of the salt, and before long he 

 had nothing to carry. The drongo won, and has ever since exercised 

 his privilege of pecking at the crow's head. 



The racket-tailed drongo {Dhsemurus paradiseus ceylonensis 

 Sharpe) is much more striking (see pi. 3, fig. 1) in appearance than 

 the foregoing, although by no means more interesting in its habits 



The genus that includes the barbets has always been of great interest 

 to me. These remote allies of our woodpeckers excavate a nesting hole 

 in some soft wood or decayed tree, often near a human habitation, and 

 make no effort to conceal themselves or their works. The Indian 

 crimson-breasted barbet {Xantholaema hcvemacephala indica) is rep- 

 resented on the island by the small Ceylon barbet. The local name of 

 this very common bird is the coppersmith, and whoever has listened 

 to its pneumatic-hammer call (so rapid are the strokes that they 

 cannot be counted) will consider it an appropriate title. The Ceylon 

 green barbet {Tliereiceryx zeylaniaus zeylanicus) is another inter- 

 esting species. At any time of day can be heard the loud call of this 

 bird — " mo-hawk, mo-hawk " — 3 or 4 times repeated, the accent being 

 alway decidedly on the second syllable. Sometimes the notes will 

 be kept up at short intervals for an hour, thus earning for the bird 

 the (local) title of "brain-fever bird". The first or introductory 

 notes are sometimes slurred. 



The kingfisher in one form or other is almost cosmopolitan ; it is 

 found all over the world, from the large laughing jackass of Australia 

 to the pigmy species of South America and elsewhere. Although 

 they generally feed on fish alone, their food sometimes includes large 

 insects, small reptiles and amphibia. The Ceylon species are remark- 

 ably beautiful and possess peculiar habits. If we are to believe the 

 evidence of the drongo's attitude toward Sinhalese kingfishers, the 

 latter are not guiltless of occasionally stealing the nestlings of other 

 birds. 



To me the most interesting species is the pied kingfisher of Ceylon 

 and India {Ceryle varia). Instead of darting on its finny prey from 

 the branch of a tree or other perch, this black and white bird flutters 

 over the water, like a kestrel or a hummingbird, watching for fish. 

 I have often observed this curious kingfisher, poised in air, turning 

 his head from side to side searching the water beneath him until, his 

 fish in view, he made a sudden plunge and rose with the catch in his 

 mandibles. 



Of the lovely parrakeets, both indigenous and migratory, that be- 

 long to the Sinhalese list, one may remark that these birds cannot 

 in Ceylon (or elsewhere, for that matter) be poked, pulled, snared, or 

 smoked out of their arboreal holes without killing or irreparably 



