MASON AND LEFROtf. 1?7 



times may prove pests in any stream in which there are fish of 

 value, and in the destruction of tadpoles. Fresh-water fish-eat- 

 ing propsnsities denote a bird to be injurious. 



Bucerotes or Hornbills. One species only can be claimed as 

 a plains species, namely, Lophoceros birostris. Most species are 

 from Burma or the Malabar coast, and forest districts and the 

 Malayan region. They are almost entirely frugivorous feeding 

 on wild fruits of various kinds, more especially on the different 

 varieties of Ficus. 



Upupce or Hoopoes are represented by two species only. The 

 food of the Indian Hoopoe has already bsen discussed and both 

 species have similar habits. The European Hoopoe summers in the 

 Himalayas migrating to Chota Nagpur, Assam, &c., in the cold 

 weather, while the Indian species is a generally distributed resi- 

 dent, not however occuring in Sind and the Western portion of 

 the Punjab. 



The Hoopoes are beneficial. 



MACROCHIRES. 



Cypseli. The Swifts are all more or less gregarious, feed on 

 insects, and convey pellets of their insect prey to their young. Jerd. 

 B. I. I, 170. 



1075. Tachornis batassiensis. Palm-Swift. Mouth all slimy, 

 and filled with the down of some syngenesious or asclepidious plant, 

 which they apparently catch during their flight. Jerd. B. I. I 18, 



1078. Chcetura indwa. Brown-necked Spine-tail. Beetles, 

 screen bugs, sand wasps, and grasshoppers. F.I. Ill, 174. 



Owls feed either by twilight or during the night, and live on 

 small mammalia, especially mice, rats, and shrews, also on birds, 

 which they sometimes surprise : when sleeping, various reptiles, fishes 

 and insects. Jerd. B. I. I., 115 



It hunts entirely by night, not coming forth till it is quite dark, 

 and lives on rats, mice, shrews, &c. Into a room after a rat. Jerd. 

 B. 1. 1, 118. 



12 



