120 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



coast, extending uip fche Neillgilieriiies, 'where very oom- 

 mon in the dense -woods, and alorug the Malabai GJiait* 

 as far as N.L. 14 deg. Its voice is not quite so loud 

 as that of the la.st species {M. canireps). Its flight is. 

 like thait of the othedie of this genus, toleralbly rapid, 

 diirect, and siliglhitrly undulating. lit percthes generally 

 on the higher branches of trees. I have irequently 

 heard bot<h this aind the last sipecies calling by moon- 

 light, and have altways found fi-uit in its stomach." 



"LaAiajrd relates of the M. zeijlaiiica of Ceylon tihait. 

 in confinement, although it ate fruiit gi-eedily, it would 

 yet ea.t raw meat, and devoured several little Ama<liiia< 

 kept in an aviajy 'witih it. This is quite in conformity 

 Tith what has been remarked of the South American 

 Toucans in captivity. ^la'. Bennet describes in full 

 detail the despatching of an unlucky Goldfinch by a 

 caged Toueaji. All of the species build in holes ot 

 trees, laying three or lour shining white eggs." 



Hume ("Nests and Eggs," Second Edition, Vol. II., 

 pp. 525. 326, 328) says: — " I have never taken the egg.> 

 of the Small Green Baj-bet ; but Mr. Davison tells me 

 that " it breeds very conrmonly on the Nilghiris, in 

 the trunk or larger Iwanches of thy and partiaU.v 

 decayed trees.' Dr. Jeixion seems to question their 

 excavating their own nests ; but of this there can be no 

 doubt, as I have repeatedly seen them at work. The 

 holes vary considerably, both with regard to the depth 

 of the entrance-tube, if it may be so called, and also 

 with regai-d to the depth of the egg-chamber. The hole 

 i.<; shaped something like a retort with a. very short 

 neck. Tlie eggs are pure white, rather glossy, and gene- 

 rally nearly as thick at the smaller- as at the larger end, 

 but in this, as well as in size, they vary very con- 

 siderably. The normal number of eggs is. I should say, 

 four, hut very often only three are laid, while occa- 

 sionally even five are found. Nothing is used to line 

 the hole, the eggs being merely laid on a few chips of 

 decayed wood. The bird appears rather to sit over 

 than on her eggs, as she may be seen for hours together 

 with her head sticking out of the hole. Breeds in 

 iMarch, April, and ilay, and sometimes continues laying 

 even as late as the first or second week in June." 



" The eggs of this species, sent me from the Nilghiris 

 by Miss Oockburn and Mr. Davison, axe dull pure 

 white, only moderately glossv, more or less broad ovals. 



-They va.ry in length from' 1.07 to 1.22 inch, and in 

 'breadth from 0.75 to 0.96 inch ; but they average 1.15 

 by 0.86 inch." 



Kuss states that, .''O far as he knows, this specie.* 

 has only once been imported alive, by G. Bosz. of 

 Cologne, who sent it to him for identification : never- 

 theless, a common South Indian bird might appear in 

 the English market any day. 



CRIMS0N-BRE.4STED Babbet {XantJiohrma 

 hccmatoce johala). 

 Above yellowish olive-green, many of the feathers 

 with yellow edges, lesser and outer median and greater 

 wing-coverts grass-greeu, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, 

 and flights Iblaickish intexnally ; prim.aries yellowish 

 towards tips of outer webs ; a 'broad scarlet frontal band 

 succeeded iby a band of Hack ; occiput, Tia:pe, and hind- 

 neck washed with 'bluish ; sides of head black ; a 

 narrow eyelbrcKw sit.reaik and a broad streak helow the 

 eye hrigiht sulphrui -yellow ; hinder cheeks and back of 

 ear-covert'S washed -with bluish-green ; throat bright 

 eulplhur-yeJlow, varied behind with Ibkck ; sides of neck 

 green, washed with bluish-^rey ; fore-neck ibrigOvt 

 scarlet, 'shaded at back with golden yellow ; rest of 

 under surface pale yellow, whit.ish in the centre, and 

 streaked with green on sides, flanks, and under itadl- 



coverts ; edge of wing green ; flights Ibelow duskv, 

 yello'wiah along inner edge ; bill dark horny slate-colour, 

 paler at .base ; feat deep coral ipink ; inides dark brown, 

 watih a palle or pearl-grey oulter circle. Female smaller 

 and slightly duller ithan 'the male. 'Halb., Ceylon and 

 India, eastward to Burma, and tlhroug'h 'MalajTsia to 

 Sumatra and the Hhilippines. 



Jerdon observes ("Birds rf India." Vol. I., p. 516) : 

 '■ It is vea-y common wherever there is a sufficiency of 

 trees, inhabiting open spaces (in the jungles, grove's of 

 trees, avenues, and gardens, being very familiaT. and 

 approaching close to houses, and not 'infrequently 

 perohing on the housetop. As far as I have oibserved. 

 it does not dimb like the "Woodpeckers, but hops about 

 the brano'ies like othex perohinig birds. The Rev. Mr. 

 Philipps, indeed, as quoted by Horsfield, states that it 

 runs up and down the tree Ike a Woodpecker, a'nd other 

 obseawei-s have asserted it climbs to its hole ; but I con- 

 less that I have never seen this, and Mr. B'lyth is nxost 

 decidedly of opinion that the Barbets never climb. This 

 naturalist found that one which he kept alive would 

 take insects into its mouth and munch them, but 

 swallowed none of them, and forsook them immediately 

 when fruit was offered. Its diief food is fi-uit. of 

 various kinds, sometimes perhaps insects. It has a 

 remarkably Icud note, which sO'Unds like took-tool--tool\ 

 and this it geufi;-ail!y u'tters when seated on the top of 

 some 'tree, nodding its hea'd at each call., firsit to one 

 side, then to another. Sundevall states that it is like 

 a rather low note on the flute, from the llower G to the 

 second E. This sound, and the motion of its head 

 accompanying it, have given origin to the name ot 

 ' Coppersmith.' by iwhich it is kno\vir both among 

 natives and Europeans. The sound often a-ppears to 

 ccane from a different direction to that from 'W'hidli it 

 does really proceed ; and this appeare to me to depend 

 on the dbeotion of the bird's head when littering the 

 call. Olr. Philipps accounts for it by saj-ing that it 

 alters the intensity of its call. Sundevall remarks that 

 'the same individual always utters the same note, but 

 that two are seldom heard to make it exaatly alike. 

 When, therefore, two or more birds are sitting near 

 each other, a not unpleasant music arises from the 

 alternation of the notes, each sounding like the tone O'f 

 a series of bells.' It breeds in holes in trees, laying 

 two (or more) white eggs. A pair bred in mv garden at 

 Sangor. in the cross-beam of a vinery. The entrance 

 was from the under-side of the be.am. .peifectXy circular. 

 It appeared to have (been used for several years, and 

 the bird had gO'ne on lengt'hening the cavity inside year 

 by year till the distance from the original entrance 

 was' four or five feet : and it had then made another 

 entrance, also from below, about 2^ feet from the nest. 

 I quite recently observed a nest of this bird in a hole c" 

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

 thoroughfare in Calcutta." 



Hume says ("Nests and Eggs," Vol. II., pp. 329. 

 350, 532) : "" I have always found the nest of the (Copper- 

 smith, or, a.s Jerdon ple.n.ses to call it, the Ci-im.son- 

 breasted Baxbet, in March. April, or May; but in Cen- 

 tral and Southern India it begins, I believe, to lay 

 earlier. 



Sometimes it fixes upon a branch, hollow from end 

 to end. and with a wide natural aperture, but in these 

 cases it generally cuts a new entrance, nearer to the 

 bottom of the cavity, some 2in. in diameter, and always, 

 I think, on the underside of the bough. As a rule. 

 however, like others of the family, these Barbets seem 

 to be able to find out branches that are decayed in- 

 ternally, although externally to the human eye exliibit- 

 ing no signs of this, and into such, through the harder 

 external shell of the branch, tbev cut a perfectly circuhir 



