346 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



(388) TiGA SHORii. — The Large Three-toed Woodpecker. 

 Hume, No, 183 ; Blanford, No. 989. 



I have seen but one bird of this species, and that was caught on its 

 nest on the 3 7th of April, 1889. The eggs, of which there were three, 

 measure 1-26" X 'SO*, 1-23" X '86" and 1*23" X "80". They are the 

 longest, proportionately, woodpeckers' eggs in my collection, and, 

 with the exception of the first mentioned egg of P. pyrrliotis, the 

 most hard, close-grained and glossy. 



I know nothing about the bird or its habits. 

 (389) Chrysocolaptbs gdtta-ceistatus.— The Bronze-backed 



Woodpecker. 

 Hume, No. 166 ; Blanford, No, 992. 



Next to G. occipitalis the most common species of Woodpecker in 

 North Caehar. 



I have taken any number of nests of this bird, and cannot at all 

 understand how it was that Messrs. Darling and Davison never found 

 more than one egg in a nest. 



Four are very often laid, and sometimes as many as five, whilst less 

 than four are seldom met with. This Woodpecker, like many others, 

 often lays its eggs at long, very long, intervals ; as a rule, two are laid 

 at an interval of a day or so, and then a week or more may elapse 

 before the others are laid. Thus I have found in the same nest-hole, 

 a nearly fully-fledged bird, two half-fledged and two just hatched ; 

 another time I found three young birds, one a good deal more advanc- 

 ed than the other tv7o, and two eggs. Two young and two eggs 

 I have seen more than once. Addled eggs are extremely common, 

 and I should say that one nest in three contains one or more addled 

 eggs. 



I do not think the eggs i could be discriminated from those of 

 G. occipitalis, and though I think they average somewhat larger, I can- 

 not say for certain, as I regret that I have kept no notes on measure- 

 ments, a fact due principally to my getting so many eggs of this 

 species that I liave never troubled to measure them. The only four 

 eggs which I have retained for my own collection measure 

 1-23" X *91", rSO" X -94", 1-24" X '85" and 1-25" X '86". They are 

 rather pointed, two decidedly more so than the others, and are not very 

 glossy. They were taken from a hole in a tree, at about five feet 



