358 JO URNAL, B9MBA Y NA TUBAL HISTOR Y SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



are typical JJ . ceylonensis. The very fact of the two varieties being found 

 in the same small area with many intermediate forms is alone almost 

 sufficient to show that they belong to but one species. This bird is a 

 very early breeder, laying in February and early March, sometimes 

 earlier, for I have found half-fledged young on the 3rd of March. I 

 have, however, taken fresh eggs as late as 24th April. 



I have several times watched the cook-bird feeding the female 

 when she is engaged in incubation, still I do not think that, *' like 

 the hornbill, she always remains on her nest until the young are 

 hatched/' 



In fact, I know she does not, for I have watched her off the nest and 

 taken the eggs by following her up on her return to it. When begin- 

 ning to be hard set, however, she does sit very closely on her eggs, and 

 but seldom leaves them. 



Okder— Trogones. 

 Family Trogonidce. 

 (405) Harpactes ertthrocephalus. — The Red-headed Trogan. 

 Bume, No. 116 ; Blanford, No. 1101, 



This is a common bird in suitable localities throughout Cachar up to 

 some 4,000 feet, being most often met with at about 2,000 feet. I 

 have taken a number of nests of this bird, or rather, I should say, a 

 number of eggs, for nests there are none, the bird laying its eggs in 

 some natural hollow of a tree, either on the chips and scraps which 

 'have collected in it, or else placing there some half-dozen or so dead 

 leaves. Neither could I be certain that these leaves have been 

 so placed by the birds themselves, for in all the cases where I have 

 seen leaves, the hollows were large and exposed, so that they might 

 easily have been blown into them. The eggs are either three or 

 four in number^ most often the former. They range in colour from a 

 very pale buff ot caf^ au lait to a. somewhat warm, rich shade of the 

 same colours. I have seen no eggs wholly white ; the very palest in 

 my collection contrast strongly with pigeons' and other realli/ white 

 eggs when they are placed alongside one another. 



In shape they are often very spherical, but vary a good deal, some 

 being rather long ovals, though both ends are nearly always much 

 the same. The texture is beautifully close and fine, but seldom show- 

 ing any gloss, and the shell is stout and strong. 



