318 CAPITONJI^E. 



stump of four or five inches diameter, and had been excavated by 

 the birds themselves. It contained two partially-set eggs. I 

 killed the male off the eggs. Its stomach contained a good-sized 

 grub and a few coleopterous insects. I have observed this bird as 

 low as 1500 feet, so that it probably breeds down to that low 

 elevation." 



Four eggs sent me from Sikhim varied in length from 0*6 to 

 0-65, and in breadth from 048 to 0-51. 



lynx torquilla, Linn. The Wryneck. 



Yunx torquilla, Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 303 ; Iliime, Rouyh Draft 

 N. $ E. no. 188. 



I have no particulars as to the nidification of the Wryneck, but 

 Mr. Brooks says that it " breeds in the large orchard at Itamu, 

 Cashmere, where it is not unfrequent." 



Family CAPITONID^*. 



Megalaema marshallorum, Swinh. The Great Indian Barbet* 



Megalaima virens (Bodd.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 308. 



Megalaima grandis (Gould)) Hume, llwuyh Draft N. fy E. no. 191. 



The Great Indian Barbet breeds in various parts of the Hima- 

 layas, at any rate from Bhotan to Cashmere, in deep shady dells in 

 all the lower hills south of the first Snowy Range, at elevations of 

 "from 4000 to 6000 feet. It lays from the middle of May until 

 the middle of July. Throughout the breeding-season its loud 

 wailing cry resounds in all the warmer well-wooded valleys. 



The nest-holes excavated by the birds, alike in the trunks and 

 larger branches of the softer-wooded trees, occur at heights of 

 from 10 to 50 feet from the ground. 



The Alnus nepalensis and Acer oblongum are in some parts of the 

 hills their favourite trees. The holes are some 3 inches iu diameter 

 at the entrance, only a few inches deep, and 6 or 7 inches across, 

 where the eggs are laid. Often they go straight into a natural 

 hollow. 



The normal number of eggs is four, but I have a note of five 

 being found. 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species begins to lay in 

 April in Nepal, excavating a nest-hole in the trunks or branches 

 of trees 4 or 5 inches deep, and laying three or four eggs, which 



* For the Barbets 1 employ the nomenclature of the forthcoming volume 

 of the Catalogue of the Capitonidaj in the British Museum by Captaiu G. E. 

 Shelley, who has kindly assisted me. ED. 



