744 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



No. XIV.— THE NESTING OF THE MALABAR RUFOUS WOOD- 

 PECKER {MICROPTERNUS GULAR1S). 

 It may perhaps be of interest to some of the members to record that 

 recently whilst I was out nesting at Thana in company with two friends, 

 I found what I consider must be the eggs (2) of tbe Madras Rufous Wood- 

 pecker (J\Iicropternus gularis). Yery little is known of the nesting of this bird, 

 though in Vol. Ill of the " Fauna of British India 11 (Blanford), it is stated on 

 page 57 that Davi ( d ? ) son and Aitken found these eggs in ants 1 nests. The 

 same fact is mentioned in Hume's "Nest and Eggs, 1 ' Vol. II,page 308, about the 

 sister bird(M. phceceps) of Northern India, with measurements and descriptions 

 of the eggs. I was directed to the nest in question by some native boys 

 who were acting as guides, &c„, to my party, and I may mention I had 

 never seen them before, or did they know I was coming out on that day. 

 They said that two days before they had noticed a bird (described 

 by them as the Lai Sutar) pecking at an ant's nest in a mango tree. We 

 sent them off to examine the nest, and they returned to say that there were 

 two eggs. On hearing this, we started off and soon came to the place, where 

 we found in a mango tree, about 8 feet from the ground, a black ant^ nest 

 {Cremastogaster ebinis), looking for all the world like a big sponge, with a 

 circular hole in it about 2J- in. wide at the mouth, and descending downwards 

 into a fairly large cavity containing two perfectly fresh white eggs, measuring 

 respectively 1'15 in. and 1'13 x *85 and '8 in. They were moderately long ovals 

 without any gloss, and looked extremely fragile. A curious thing noticed 

 about them was a sort of sparkle, resembling the frosted appearance one sees 

 on a 'Xmas Card. This has disappeared since blowing the eggs. The nest 

 (of the ants) was absolutely alive with these insects, and I thought at the time 

 that it had not been long enough in occupation for them to quit, for in the 

 note on M. phceceps quoted above, Mr. Gammie states that in three nests out 

 of four taken in Sikkim, the ants had left the birds in sole possession. This 

 opinion I must now modify, as writing on this date the 21st, I am able to send 

 you a black ant's nest with a woodpecker's nest and one young bird in it. 1 his 

 I took to-day in the jungle not far from Thana. I foolishly had the nest cut 

 down before examining it, and instead of eggs, as I hopedJ found a young bird. 

 There may be two, but the ants are too thick for examination to be a pleasant 

 operation. This disposes of tbe idea that, when the birds take possession, 

 the ants leave. My native assures me that they form the young bird's food, 

 and to-day when I was looking at the nestling I certainly saw it pecking away 

 vigorously. I hope it is old enough to survive removal to the Society's care ; 

 when all doubt will be set at rest as to the identity of these robbers, who 

 apparently not only break into the ant's nest but feed on the original occu- 

 pants. I am sorry to say that on neither occasion did I see the parent bird. 



* This fact has already been noticed by Mr. E. H. Aitken in the Society's Journal,, 

 Vol. VII, page 198— Ed. 



