MASON AND LEFROY. 153 



The food consists of fruit of every sort, buds and petals of 

 flowers, and even green bark, or in many cases almost entirely of 

 insects ; in captivity pieces of meat or small birds are acceptable, 

 the latter being usually battered upon some hard substance 

 before being swallowed. E. B. C. N. H., 249. 



Fruit-eating Birds. Imp. Gaz., I, 447. 



I learnt, when in the Shevaroys, that barbets of some species, 

 occasionally do some considerable amount of damage to coffee 

 plantations, just as the berries are ripening. The pulp surround- 

 ing the sead is eaten, the seeds being discarded. 



1006 & 1007. Megalcema marshallorum. Great Himalayan 

 and M. virens, Great Chinese Barbets. 



Entirely on fruit. F. I., Ill, 86, 85; & Jerd. B. I., I, 308. 

 Fruit (marshallorum). A. S. B., L-XIX, 165. 



1008. Thereiceryx zeylonicus. Common Indian Green Bar- 

 bet. Chiefly on fruit and seeds, and especially on the figs of the 

 banyan and other kinds of Ficus : rarely insects. F. I., Ill, 88. 

 Layard. One in captivity killed and ate munias. Fruits 

 and berries, occasionally insects. Picking at the flowers of a tree. 

 -Jerd. B. I., I, 311. 



1907, 1908 & 1909. 21, 9, & 11 birds, examined in these 

 three years respectively, contained nothing but fruits of various 

 species of Ficus and occasionally Ber (Zizyphus jujuba.) 



Summary. Forty-two birds took Ficus fruit, and 1 took 2 

 beneficial insects. This bird is a general fruit pest in the orchard 

 at Pusa, and is said to take such fruits as loquats and peaches, 

 visiting the orchard early in the morning and late in the evening 

 only. I have seen it on several occasions taking whiteants (Termes 

 obesus) on the wing. It flies straight from one tree to another, 

 and if a termite happens to come in its way, it takes it. It is too 

 clumsy in flight to hawk insects properly. 



1010. Thereiceryx viridis. Small Green Barbet. Always 

 fruit in its stomach. Jerd. B, I., I, 312. 



