318 CAPITONJUyE. 



stuinp ol: four or live iuches diameter, and had been excavated by 

 tlie birds themselves. It contained two partially-set eggs. I 

 killed the male off the eggs. Its stomach contained a good-sized 

 grub and a few coleopterous insects. I have observed this bird as 

 low as 1500 feet, so that it probably breeds down to that low 

 elevation." 



Pour eggs sent me from Sikhim varied in length from 0-6 to 

 0-65, and in breadth from 0-48 to O'ol. 



lynx torquilla, Linn. Tlia Wryneclc. 



Yunx torquilla, Linn., Jerd. B. Intl. i, p. 3U;3 ; Hume, Ituurjh Draft 

 N. Sf E. no. 188. 



I have no particulars as to the nidification of the AVryneck, but 

 Mr. Erooks says that it "breeds in the large orchard at liamu, 

 Cashmere, where it is not uufrequent." 



Family CAPITONID.^*. 



Megalsema marshallorum, Swinh. The Great Indian Burbet. 



Meyalaima \irens {Bodd), Jerd. B. Lid. i, p. 308. 



Megalaima grandis (Goidd), Hume, Hough Draft N. Sf E. lu). 191. 



The Great Indian Barbet breeds in various parts of the Hima- 

 layas, at any rate from Bhotan to Cashmere, in deep shady dells in 

 all the lower hills south of the first Snowy Eange, at elevations of 

 fi-om 4000 to 0000 feet. It lays from the middle of May until 

 the middle of July. Throughout the breeding-season its loud 

 v^ailing cry resounds in all the warmer well-wooded valleys. 



The" nest-holes excavated by the birds, alike in the trunks and 

 larger branches of the softer-wooded trees, occur at heights of 

 from 10 to 50 feet from the ground. 



The Alum ncj/alensis and Actr ohlowjnm are in some ])arts of the 

 hills their favourite trees. The holes are some 3 iuches in diameter 

 ut the entrance, only a few inches deep, and 6 or 7 inches across, 

 where the eggs are laid. Often they go straight into a natural 

 hollow. 



The normal nundjer of eggs is four, but I have a note of five 

 being found. 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species begins to lay in 

 April in ]S'epal, excavating a nest-hole in the truidvs or branches 

 of trees 4 or 5 inches deep, and laying thri-c or four eggs, v\hich 



* For the Earbets I ornidoy tlio noiiieuckture of the forthcoming volume 

 of the Catalogue of the CapitonicUe in the LriUsh Museum by Caplaiu G. E. 

 Shelley, who bas kindly assisted me.— Eu. 



