324 CAPITONIDiE. 



a quantity of wood-dust that had fallen into the hole during the 

 operation of boring, about 12 or 15 inches from the entrance. The 

 old birds evinced great anxiety during the time I was enlarging the 

 hole to procure the eggs, bopping from bough to bougb within a 

 few yards of me the whole time. On the 4th May, 1875, I saw 

 another nest with half-fledged young ones ; the hole was bored in 

 the trunk of a dead tree about 30 feet from the ground."' 



Mr. J. Davidson writes from Western Kbaudesh : — " It is 

 fairly common, breeding in April and laying generally three eggs, 

 though 1 have found only two eggs nearly fully incubated." 



The eggs are somewhat elongated, very regular ovals, dull 

 white, and slightly glossy. They vary from 1-1 to 1*3 in length, 

 and from 0-84 to 0-95 in breadth ; but the average of a dozen eggs 

 was 1-21 nearly by 0-88 nearly. 



Cyanops zeylonica (Grm.). The Ceylon Green Barhct. 



Megalaima zeylonica {Gin.), Hume, Roiujh Draft N. §• E. no. 193 

 bis. 



I know nothing of the nidification of the Ceylon Green Barbet, 

 but Mr. Layard says : — "This Barbet breeds in hollow trees, laying 

 three or four pure white, but very shining eggs ; axis I'l, diameter 

 0-95. The natives all affirm that the birds hollow out their own 

 nest-hole ; one I saw was in an unsound tree, the nest slightly 

 formed of a few bents of dry grass." 



I think this requires confirmation. Barbets do not, as a rule, 

 lay (1st) very shiniiu/, (2nd) ueai"ly spherical eggs, nor (3rd) do 

 they make any nest ; but it was Layard who described the Roller's 

 eggs as greenish, profusely spotted with dark brown ! 



Colonel Legge i-emarks in his 'Birds of Ceylon': — "This bird 

 breeds from March until July. The latter month is rather late, I 

 imagine ; but at that date I found a nest \^ith four young ones 

 near Minery. It hollows out with its powerful bill a hole in a 

 rotten tree, just large enough to allow of its entering the egg- 

 cavity, which is some distance down the trunk or branch. It does 

 not use the same nest twice, but having found a tree with wood 

 suited to its work, perforates it each year for the new nest, as many 

 as eight or ten holes being sometimes visible in a tree by a jungle 

 roadside. It is only when sounding wood before making its nest 

 that these birds tap with their bills, the blows being very slowly 

 repeated, with perhaps an interval of ten seconds between each. 

 There ai"e generally a few bents and grass-stalks collected for the 

 eggs to he on, but scarcely worthy of the name of nest. The eggs 

 are three or four in number, pure white, glossy, and rather round 

 in shape; they measure about 1*1 by 0'9 inch.'' 



