60 THE WOODPECKER AND THE COPPERSMITH. 



on a small iron anvil and hammer it patiently for 

 hours, I cannot say certainly what purpose this 

 serves, but it is the proper thing to do, and every 

 Coppersmith's workshop resounds with the monoton- 

 ous clink of the small hammer. And on the very top 

 of a tree near by sits a little bird, possessed with the 

 conviction that the proper thing for it to do during all 

 the hottest hours of the day is to cry, in a sharp, 

 metallic voice, took, took, took, nodding its head the 

 while and turning from side to side. The likeness 

 between the voice of the bird and the hammer of the 

 man has struck Englishman and Hindu alike, and the 

 name of Coppersmith has taken hold of the bird in the 

 languages of both. But in science it is the Crimson- 

 breasted Barbet (Xantholcema indicd]. The Barbets 

 are placed by Jerdon next the Woodpeckers, which 

 they resemble in some respects and not at all in others. 

 While the Woodpeckers eat nothing but insects, the 

 Barbets live almost entirely on fruit. I once kept a 

 Coppersmith for some weeks, and tried it with insects 

 of various kinds, but it refused them all and lived on 

 plantains and dried dates. Yet I have seen one 

 catching flying white ants in the air. The Barbets 

 also perch, like common birds, instead of clambering 

 about trunks. But they lay their eggs in holes, which 

 they make for themselves, and then they are true 

 Woodpeckers for the time, clinging with their feet 

 and hammering fiercely with their stout bills. Their 

 holes are sometimes several feet deep, and Jerdon says 

 that they go on deepening them from year to year. 



The Coppersmith is a bird about the size of a 

 sparrow, but more dumpy altogether, with a shorter 

 tail and heavier bill. Its colour is green above, a 



