678 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



The ants certainly do not desert the nest when occupied, and I have 

 been terribly punished when putting my hand into a nest even when it 

 contained small young of this bird. The number of eggs found has 

 always been either two or three ; they are large for the size of the bird 

 and generally much discoloured. 



986. Brachypterntjs aurantius, Linn. 

 This wood-pecker is common everywhere in Kanara. I was in- 

 clined to think we had two species, as while the majority of the 

 birds are practically typical B. aurantius, occasionally, but rarely, one 

 with a very black breast is obtained. I have shot a hen of this form 

 from the nest, but failed to secure the cock, and so discover if he was 

 also a black-breasted bird. Nosts are common all over the district in 

 March and April. 



988. Tiga javanensiSj Ljung. 

 This is not a common wood-pecker anywhere in Kanara, and I have 

 no record of obtaining it below the Ghats, though I think I have seen 

 it there, and it much resembles C gutticristatus, and also is shy and 

 objects to close examination, and may thus easily be passed over. I 

 have seen it, however, occasionally from Siddapur as far north as 

 Supa. I have twice obtained its nest. The first was some twenty-five 

 feet from the ground in leafless jungle near Sonda in Sirsi, and contain- 

 ed, on the 14th April, a single newly hatched young one. The entrance 

 hole was in a bough, and at least three feet from the nest. The other was 

 taken on the 12 th March near Kumbarwada in Supa, and was in a 

 hole in a cocoa-nut tree close to a small village and adjoining a large 

 u kan " or evergreen jungle. It contained three very glossy fresh eggs. 

 991. Chrysocolaptes festivus, Bodd. 

 I have only once come across this bird in Kanara, and that was at a 

 village five miles east of Halyal. This was on the 26th April, 1893, 

 and there were three birds together. I had no gun with me, but the 

 yellow crest of the female and the white patch on the back of the neck 

 were quite clear and rendered a mistake impossible. 



992. Chrysooolaptes gutticeistatus, Tick. 

 This bird is fairly common all over Kanara, though not so much so 

 as B. aurantius. I have seen the birds excavating a hole at Kudra, near 

 Karwar, in October, but have never come across a nest with either eggs 

 or young. 



