682 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



volume of sound emitted by the bird. Throughout the spring and summer 

 months the hill-sides resound with its monotonous and wailing cries,. 

 I shall never forget the day when I first heard its notes. It was 

 many years ago when I first came to Simla. My stay here was uncertain, 

 and I was determined to see as much of this station as possible. On a hot 

 and dusty morning in May, after an early breakfast, I started to explore 

 the " Glen,'' one of the famous picnicing resorts of the residents here. 

 After wandering about the hill-sides for several hours, I turned my steps' 

 homewards, but unfortunately lost my way, as the slopes were densely 

 wooded. After making several unsuccessful attempts to find the path, I 

 threw myself on the hill-side in sheer exhaustion, and determined, after a. 

 short rest, to make another attempt to find it. At my feet , grew a small, 

 tush in full flower, and various kinds of bees were busy at work amidst 

 them. On the opposite side, a pair of parrots had taken up their abode in 

 a rhododendron tree, and were deeply immersed in domestic cares ; while 

 close by some Flycatchers were plying their daily vocations. The peaceful 

 scene, combined with the cool and refreshing breeze, and the " drowsy 

 hum of the bees " soon lulled me into dreamland. I could not have been 

 a,sleep for more than a few minutes, when I was suddenly awakened by 

 hearing a most extraordinary voice above me. It was the love call of this 

 Barbet. I jumped up dazed and startled. The notes above me seem to 

 increase in intensity. Two rivals in the neighbourhood began answering 

 back, and the hill-sides were resounding and echoing with their cries. 

 The act of my jumping up suddenly must have frightened the parrots, for 

 uttering their alarm notes, they darted screeching across the trees. Others 

 in the vicinity followed. A noisy flock of Jays commenced their garrulous 

 chattering, and in the distant ravine I could hear the shrill whistles of 

 Myiophoneus temmincki. For a few seconds the din and noise around me 

 was so deafening and intense, that I confess I was not only startled, but 

 utterly bewildered, and it was some time before I could quite recollect my 

 senses. I had never heard the like of such sounds before, and can now 

 only realise what must be the feelings of some unfortunate traveller when 

 stranded alone in the depths of a Brazilian forest. 



In an interesting article contributed to the columns of the " Madras 

 Mail " of the 5th August 1911 on this bird, Mr. D. Dewar, I.O.S., rightly 

 doubts Jerdon's statement (quoted in the " Fauna, " Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 85) 

 that this species lives entirely on fruit, as he thinks that such food must be 

 scarce in the hills during the winter months. Long ago the two Marshall 

 brothers in their excellent Monograph on the Capitonidce pointed out that 

 the diet of this Barbet consisted both of fruit and insects, and Hodgson, 

 whom they quote, remarked that it devoured ants and other insects, but 

 chiefly lived on fruit. As bearing on this subject, the following particulars 

 which are extracted froin the paper referred to abov^e, and which relate to 



