23 A BIRD CALENDAR 



fully expanded. Mating hoopoes, however, 

 perform strange antics in the air ; they twist 

 and turn and double, just as a flycatcher does 

 when chasing a fleet insect. Both the hoopoe 

 and the roller are veritable aerial acrobats. 

 By the end of the month all but a few of the 

 hoopoes have begun to nest ; most of them 

 have eggs, while the early birds, described in 

 January as stealing a march on their brethren, 

 are feeding their offspring. The 6th February 

 is the earliest date on which the writer has 

 observed a hoopoe carrying food to the nest ; 

 that was at Ghazipur. 



March and April are the months in which 

 the majority of coppersmiths or crimson- 

 breasted barbets rear up their families. Some, 

 however, are already working at their nests. 

 The eggs are hatched in a cavity in a tree a 

 cavity made by means of the bird's bill. Both 

 sexes take part in nest construction. A neatly- 

 cut circular hole, about the size of a rupee, on 

 the lower surface or the side of a branch 

 is assuredly the entrance to the nest of a 

 coppersmith, a green barbet, or a wood- 

 pecker. 



As the month draws to its close many a pair 

 of nuthatches (Sitta castaneiventris) may be 



