xanthol.5;ma. 329 



the purpose of getting a shot, the bird flitted down to a thick lower 

 branch, and disappeared on the underside. On getting under the 

 tree I discovered a tiny hole, and immediately sent a peon up to 

 ascertain if there were any eggs. As he got on to the next branch 

 below the one in which the hole was, the little bird darted out, 

 and though I fired hastily I missed ; however, I had identified it, so 

 I didn't much care. After cutting and hacking for a short time at 

 the branch, which was decayed more or less, the man managed to 

 get his hand in, and shouted down that there were two eggs rest- 

 ing on the bare wood. 



'' These I directed him to extract carefully, tie up in his goung- 

 boung (head handkerchief), and let down carefully with a string 

 he had taken up. No sooner said than done. He then cut off the 

 decayed branch. The nest-hole ran about 6 inches into the branch 

 downwards, and the entrance looked as if it had been about an 

 inch in diameter. The two eggs were pure pearly white, \\-ith a 

 pinkish tinge from the yoke showing through, not very glossy, and 

 rather elongated in shape. They measure respectively 1 and 0*97 

 by 0-7 and 0-G9.'" 



Mr. J. Darling, Junior, also found the nest of this species in 

 Tenasserim. He says : — 



" Ibtli April. Found a nest of Meycdcuma cyanotis, some twenty 

 miles east from Tavoy. It was excavated in a small rotten stump 

 20 feet from the ground ; the entrance-hole was 1 inch in diameter, 

 going into the stump 3 inches, then going downwards 6|, and 

 terminating in a chamber 2 inches in diameter. The nest contained 

 no lining of any sort, the three fresh eggs it had in it being laid 

 on the plain wood.'' 



These three eggs measured 0"92, 0-9, and O-So in length by 0-6S, 

 0-65, and 0'65 respectively in breadth. 



The eggs ^ary a good deal in size, but all are much elongated 

 ovals. Like the eggs of all the Barbets, the shells are excessively 

 fine and thin, glossless and pure white. 



Xantholsema hsemacephala (P. L. S. Midi.). The Crlmson- 

 hreasted Barbet. 



Xantholfema indica {Latli.\ Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 315. 

 Xanthola3ma hcemacephala {Miill.), Hume, Eoiigh Draft N. ^- E, 

 no. 197. 



I have always found the nest of the Coppersmith, or, as Jerdon 

 pleases to call it, the Criuason-breasted Barbet, in March, April, or 

 May ; but in Central 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 2 inches 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 



