164 



giokB on ih Sitlipratlait of mint Smmm 'SM^r 



III « 



By Eugene W. Gates, C.B. 



118.— Harpactes erythrocephalus, Gould. (ll6.)t 



On the 8th May, a female of this species flew from the top 

 of a dead trunk of a tree, about 20 feet high, as T was passing 

 through the forest at the Eutagan Bungalow, twelve miles from 

 Pegu. A man, on being sent up, reported that there were three 

 eggs resting on the bare wood in a cavity at the top of the 

 stump. In about a quarter of an hour the bird returned and 

 began sitting. I started her off and shot her. The eggs were 

 then brought down to me. 



In shape, the eggs are nearly spherical, and in texture, the 

 shell is smooth to the touch and tolerably glossy. The color of 

 all is a pale buff or cafe-aii-lait. They are in fact of precisely 

 the same color as the eggs of H. oreskios, with which Lieutenant 

 Bingham has lately kindly favored me. In size and shape they, 

 however, differ very conspicuously, the dimensions of the three 

 eggs of hodgsoni being respectively 1*1 by "98 ; 1"08 by 1*00 ; 

 and 1-1 by I'Ol. 



Dr. Jerdon and Mr. Hodgson record the eggs of this species 

 as white, and more recently Mr. Gammie has also found them 

 of the same color. I cannot help thinking that a mistake in 

 identification has been made in all these cases-l H- fasciatus, as 

 Lieutenant Bingham informs me, lays buff-colored eggs, and it 

 seems out of all reason that theTrogon of the Himalayas should 

 lay white eggs. ("Nests and Eggs," p. 99.) 



119.— Serilophus lunatus, Gould. (1395^5.) 



Mr. Davison had the eggs of this species brought to him in 

 Tenasserim by his Burman Shikaree, and their color was white. 

 The eggs I procured myself were spotted, § and, as will be seen 

 from the description below, almost identical in color with eggs 

 of Eu7yl(smus javanicus, as described by Mr. Hume (S. F., V., 

 p. 456.) 



* Vide " Stray Feathers," Vol. V., p. 141, and Vol. VII., p. 40. 



f The numbers following the names are the general list numbers. 



;|; No; no mistake. Several nests with nearly white eggs have been found of this 

 species ; some eggs oi fasciatus are quite as nearly pure white; even in oreskios, some 

 eggs show only a trace of the ivory tinge. I have never seen any Indian Trogon's 

 egg, that I should call " buff." Ivory or creamy white or very pale cafe au lait, is 

 'all I could say for the deepest colored I have seen. — A. O. H. _ 



§ All these Broadbills lay several types of eggs, some plain, some spotted, as do 

 the King-crowa. — A. O. H. 



