266 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



a few feet above. In such a spot the nest is safe. 

 The pools are deep, the falls turbulent, and the nest, 

 though close at hand, is usually inaccessible. The 

 bird seems to show a clear foresight in this act ; it 

 must understand that it can rest secure above these 

 waterfalls and pools. 



I have not seen the blue-throated barbet, Cyanops 

 dsiatica, actually in this valley, though it is very 

 common a little further to the east. These birds 

 construct their nests like woodpeckers by boring a 

 tunnel into the trunk of a tree. One year a pair of 

 barbets had made their tunnel in the usual way. The 

 following season the birds returned to the same tree, 

 but, instead of utilizing the tunnel of the previous 

 year, they went to the labour of digging out a new 

 tunnel six inches immediately above. The third 

 season they again returned ; but, as before, they 

 refused to make any use of the previous excavations ; 

 they rather hammered away at a new tunnel eighteen 

 inches higher up on the tree. This appeared a great 

 waste of valuable labour ; it seemed as though the 

 birds were in such bondage to their instincts that they 

 were compelled to construct a new tunnel each season 

 even though a suitable one lay ready at hand only a 

 few inches away. This may not be a just conclusion, 

 but there must be some strong reason why the birds 

 should refuse to make use of their old excavations and 

 should rather go to the labour of digging out a fresh 

 tunnel into the heart of a solid tree. 



Beneath the eaves of the forest bungalows, at 

 altitudes from 6000 to 8000 feet, the Kashmir martins, 

 Chelidon kashmiriensis, used to build their nests. 

 The architectural instinct of these birds is very plastic. 



