890 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



Salsette snd Bassein Talukas especially, and they may be seen also in the 

 Kalol Taluka of the Paach Mahals, Gujarat. In Bassein in the neighbour- 

 hood of the villages of Shirgaon and Kaman and Paye, almost every other 

 tree is a so-called hybrid. The curiosity of growth occurs by the seeds of 

 the various kinds of Ficus being deposited in the axils of the foot stalks of 

 the leaves of a young Palmyra Palm by Crows and Mynas (Achridotheres 

 ginginicmus) chiefly and by the Dicaeum erithrorhynchus (Tickell's Flower- 

 pecker), who feed on the fruits of the latter. The birds after plucking the 

 fruits of the Ficus fly away and alight on the summit of the Palmyra, where 

 they indulge in their meal without fear of molestation. After eating the 

 fruit, the seeds are voided undigested in a very short space of time (in 

 some instance 7 minutes from the time of eating *), and they fall on the 

 ground, perhaps at the base of the tree or in the axils or petioles of the old 

 leaves, which may commonly be observed surrounding the trunk in a 

 decayed state muffling the stem as it were (Photograph No. 1). It is 



No. I. 



N.B. — I had the birds under observation in captivity. 



