34 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



his spouse appeared and he caressed her. After this 

 both birds flew off. A few seconds later the hen came 

 to the nest hole and set to work. Her efforts were 

 not directed to the part of the cavity at which the 

 cock had been working. Her taps were at a spot 

 deeper down, so that while at work her tail, although 

 at right angles to her body, derived no support from 

 the trunk. She was operating on soft wood, hence 

 the tapping of her bill was scarcely audible. After 

 working for about eight minutes she began to remove 

 the chips of wood she had detached. This operation 

 is performed so rapidly that it is apt to be overlooked. 

 The bird plunges its head into the hollow, seizes some 

 chips, draws out its head and jerks this violently to 

 one side, usually to the right, and thus casts the chips 

 over its shoulder. 



After the hen had been at work for nearly ten 

 minutes she flew away. Within one minute and a half 

 of her departure the cock arrived on the scene, and at 

 once set to work in a most business-like fashion. He 

 now operated on the right side of the cavity, and not 

 at the spot to which his wife had directed her atten- 

 tion. After working for exactly twenty-five minutes 

 the cock flew off. Then for a fraction over ten minutes 

 the hole was deserted. At the end of this time it was 

 the cock who again appeared. He put in a spell of 

 thirty-five minutes' work, in the course of which he 

 indulged in a " breather " lasting three minutes. I 

 then went away, and returned nearly three hours later, 

 by which time the work had advanced to such an 

 extent that when a bird was excavating at the deepest 



