BARBETS 113 



be efficiently done even under the conditions of 

 damp heat characteristic of a summer's day in 

 Lower Bengal. Much happy time was once spent 

 in watching the progress of a nest in the dead 

 stump of a mango-tree at the edge of a paddock 

 from the other side of which all the details of the 

 work could be telescopically followed without risk 

 of alarming the miners. They began to dig on the 

 morning of the 4th of May at a point about five 

 feet from the ground, and it was most satisfactory 

 to see how chips of the wood began to fly under 

 their vigorous efforts. The work went on in a 

 series of shifts, each bird taking a turn at it for 

 about a quarter of an hour, and then going out 

 for a holiday of the same duration, but always 

 being back in a neighbouring tree in good time to 

 relieve its partner. In the course of twenty-four 

 hours the cavity had become so deep that the bird 

 at work in it disappeared completely for twenty 

 or thirty seconds at a time, and then came to the 

 orifice in order to throw away a mouthful of chips, 

 have a careful look round, and again vanish. They 

 continued hard at work for the next few days, 

 and, as the length of the tunnel increased, were 

 longer and longer hidden in it, until, on the 10th 

 of May, it was ready to be occupied. Another nest 

 was examined after the young birds had left it. 

 (Plate VI.). The entrance was smoothly circular, and 

 had a diameter of 1'87 inches. On cutting a vertical 



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