Birds of the Indian Hills 



and undulating, like that of a woodpecker. 

 They are said to subsist exclusively on fruit. 

 This is an assertion which I feel inclined to 

 challenge. In the first place, the species re- 

 mains in the Himalayas all the year round, 

 and fruit must be very scarce there in winter. 

 Moreover, Mr. S. M. Townsend records that 

 a barbet kept by him in captivity on one 

 occasion devoured with gusto a dead mouse 

 that had been placed in its cage. Barbets 

 nest in cavities in the trunks of trees, which 

 they themselves excavate with their powerful 

 beaks, after the manner of woodpeckers. The 

 entrance to the nest cavity is a neat circular 

 hole in a tree at heights varying from 15 to 

 50 feet. Most birds which rear their broods 

 in holes enter and leave the nest cavity fear- 

 lessly, even when they know they are being 

 watched by human beings, evidently feeling 

 that their eggs or young birds are securely 

 hidden away in the heart of the tree. Not 

 so the Megalcema. It is as nervous about the 

 site of its nest as a lapwing is. Nevertheless, 

 on one occasion, when the nest of a pair of 

 the great Himalayan barbets was opened out 

 and found to contain an egg and a young bird, 



which latter was left unmolested, the parent 

 I7 8 



