THE GREAT HIMALAYAN 

 BARBET 



Barbets may be described as woodpeckers 

 that are trying to become toucans. The most 

 toucan-like of them all is the great Himalayan 

 barbet (Megalcema mars bailor um). Barbets are 

 heavily-built birds of medium size, armed with 

 formidable beaks, which they do not hesitate to 

 use for aggressive purposes. As regards the 

 nests they excavate, the eggs they lay, the pad 

 that grows on the hocks of young birds, and 

 their flight, they resemble their cousins the 

 woodpeckers. But they are fruit-eating birds, 

 and not insectivorous ; it is this that constitutes 

 the chief difference between them and the wood- 

 peckers. Barbets are found throughout the 

 tropical world. A number of species occur in 

 India. The best known of these is the copper- 

 smith, or crimson-breasted barbet (Xantholcema 

 hcematocephala)) the little green fiend, gaudily 

 painted about the head, which makes the hot 

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