CTAlfOPS. 



325 



Cyanops lineata (Vieill.). TU Lineated Barhet. 



Megalaima lineata {VieiU.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 309. 



Megalaima liodgsoiii, Bonap., Hume, Bough Draft N. 8,- E. no. 19J. 



AccorcliDg to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species (the Lineated 

 Barbet) breeds in tlie valleys of the lower regions of Nepal. It 

 begins to lay about April, and the young are ready to fly by June 

 or Julr. It excavates a deep hole, some 16 inches in depth, m 

 the triink of some decayed tree, and lays three or four pure white 

 eggs, which are figured as broad ovals, considerably pointed towards 

 one end, and measuring 1*3 bv 0-98 inch. 



^Ix. J. E. Cripps writes :— " 7th May, 1875, Sylhet. Shot the 

 male (skin of which accompanies) off the nest ; contents four eggs, 

 two of which I send you. The nest was about 15 feet off the 

 ground, in a dead branch ; depth of the hole 18 inches ; just a few 

 chips constituted the lining. The eggs were perfectly fresh." 



Mr. Gates writes from Pegu :— " I have found numerous nest- 

 holes of this bird, but never the eggs. . 



" On the 8th May I discovered two fully-fledged young birds m 

 a hole of a horizontal branch of a tree about 10 feet_ from the 

 ground. The entrance to the nest was on the upper side of the 

 branch. The branches selected are, I think, always dead ones." 



Major C. T. Bingham informs us that in Tenasserim "this Barbet 

 was excessively common, but I succeeded in finding only two nests, 

 one on the 25th March, and the other on the 13th April. This 

 latter contained four young ones barely fledged. Out of the former, 

 which was a mere hole leading to a shallow hollow in a dried 

 bough of a teak-tree, which, having been cut down years ago, lay 

 propped in a slanting position against a neighbour, I took three 

 fresh eggs, which I found lying on the bare wood. The entrance- 

 hole was irregular and evidently not a recently cut one." 



Some eggs are rather elongated ovals, the shells fine, smooth, 

 and rather fragile, but with scarcely any appreciable gloss. Other 

 eggs are regular ovals, sometimes having a pyriform or even 

 sfightly cylindrical tendency ; pure white and fairhj, but not con- 

 spicuously glossy. . 



An egg of this species sent me from Sylhet by Mr. tripps 

 measures 1-25 by 0-95. Other eggs measure from 1-16 to 1-38 in 

 length, by 0-83 to 0*91 in breadth. 



Cyanops viridis (Bodd.). Tlie Small Green Barbet. 

 Megalaima viridis (Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 311 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. ^- E. no. 194. 



I have never taken the eggs of the Small Green Barbet ; but Mr. 

 Davison tells me that it " breeds very commonly on the Nilghiris 

 in the trunk or larger branches of dry and partially decayed trees. 

 Dr. Jerdon seems to question their excavating their own nests ; 

 but of this there can be no doubt, as I have repeatedly seen them at 



