HAEPACTES. 341 



and egg of the Malabar Trogon {Harpactes fasciatics) the other 

 day, and as you may care for an account of them, I send them 

 to you. 



" The nest is a very simple affair, beiug only a little rotten wood 

 in a hollow at the top of a dead stump, and about 8 feet from the 

 ground. It did not seem to have been excavated at all, nor was 

 there any entrance bored, as would have been the case with a 

 Barbet's nest. 



" The eggs are, of course, pure white, veiy round, glossy, and 

 rather large for the size of the bird. They were two in number, 

 and as they were slightly incubated, I presume that is the full 

 number laid. They measure 1-07 by 0-82 and 1 by 0*92. 



" Taken March 22nd, 1878. The nest was in thick jungle." 



Major C. T, Bingham says : — " About the middle of May 1870, 

 while out shooting in the jungles about the Ram Ghat, thirty miles 

 from Belgaum, on the old road from that station to Yiugorla, I 

 chanced upon the nest of Harpactes fasciatus. It was in a hole in 

 an old decayed tree standing in the middle of thick jungle near 

 the village of Moolus, at the foot of the aforesaid ghat. My atten- 

 tion was attracted by seeing a bird fly out, which on shooting I 

 found to be the female of Harpactes fasciatus. The entrance to the 

 nest was a circular hole, which I had to enlarge to get at the eggs ; 

 these were t\^o in number and pure white. As well as I can re- 

 member, they were perfectly fresh and laid on the bare wood. I 

 secured the male a few minutes after close by." 



Mr. Iver Macpherson writes from the Kaken Cotte State Forest, 

 Mysore District : — " Bird and three eggs sent. 



"26<7i April, 1880. While looking up at a very rotten tree, the 

 top of which had been blown off, a bird with a red breast flew out 

 of an old hole some 20 feet from the groimd. 



" My Coorvobah went up and reported three eggs, Returned 

 again in an hour, and shot the bird as it flew out of the hole. It 

 turned out to be a male of the Malabar Trogon. I did not observe 

 the female bird anywhere about. The eggs were slightly incu- 

 bated. 



" This bird is by no means common in these forests." 



These three eggs measure 1*1, 1-09, and 1-06 in length by 0-95 

 in breadth. 



The eggs of this species are, like those of Harpactes eri/throce- 

 phalus, very broad ovals, and much about the same size as those of 

 that species. Seen alone they would perhaps be pronounced pure 

 white, but laid alongside eggs like those of the Meropidai they are 

 seen to have an excessively faint ivory tinge ; it is barely percep- 

 tible, but still it is perceptible. The eggs of this species that I 

 have seen have had a very fine gloss indeed, not inferior to those 

 of the Meropidce. 



