XANTHOL^MA. 331 



witness, during the breeding-season, of a singular contest between 

 two male Barbets for the possession of an old nest in the decayed 

 branch of a neem-tree, «hicli each claimed. A short struggle took 

 place at the entry-hole, when they deliberately flew to and sat on a 

 near branch, faced about, and desperately pecked each other for 

 near two minutes, when they closed and fell to the ground. Twice 

 again did they return to the branch and renew the contest, with 

 the same result. In the fovn'th attempt, however, to reach the 

 branch, the weaker bird, from exhaustion, failed to do so ; it then 

 flew and perched on a low bamboo framework. The other imme- 

 diately followed, and in the renewed contest seized his antagonist 

 firmly by the beak, shook him off the bamboo, and kept him sus- 

 pended (by the beak) for near a minute, when both fell to the 

 ground. The weaker bird, exhausted as be was by the prolonged 

 fight, recovered himself slowly and flew away, while the victor 

 returned to the nest. I have taken the eggs both in the Sumbul- 

 pore and Eaepore Districts." 



Writing from Sambhur Mr. R. M. Adam remarks : — " The 

 Crimson-breasted Barbet is very common about all the gardens 

 here. It breeds about April and May. The young birds have the 

 yellow on the throat and about the eyes very pale ; there is no 

 red on the breast, and the whole of the head and neck is a dull 

 green. 



" I once found a nest of this bird in a mango-tree in Xorth 

 Behar on the 21st of March." 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " A pair bred in my garden at Saugor, in the 

 cross-beam of a vinery. The entrance was from the underside of 

 the beam, perfectly circular. It appeared to have been used for 

 several years, and the bird had gone on lengthening the cavity in- 

 side year by year till the distance from the original entrance was 

 4 or 5 feet ; and it had then made another entrance, also from 

 below, about 2,j feet from the nest. I quite recently observed a 

 nest of this bird in a hole of a decayed branch of a tree, close to a 

 house in a large thoroughfare in Calcutta." 



Writing of Rajpootana in general, Lieut. H. E. Barnes re- 

 marks : — " The Coppersmith begins to breed in February, and eggs 

 may be found quite up to the middle of April, but most of them 

 are laid in the commencement of March." 



Colonel Butler, writing from Deesa, says : — " The Crimson- 

 breasted Barbet breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa in January, 

 February, and March. I cut into a nest on the 27tb February, 

 1876, and found three slightly incubated eggs. I found another 

 nest near the same place a few days later (29th), which contained 

 three young unfledged birds about a week old. There were three 

 holes in the branch of an old dead tree, one above the other, and 

 about 1 foot apart. The lower one contained the chicks referred 

 to, the middle one was used by another pair of birds, which doubt- 

 less would have laid iu a day or two if I had not disturbed them, 

 the upper one was not used.'" 



