550 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NATUMAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol.. X 



CacLari, luckier than I, in a crevice below one of the nests, found an 

 exceptionally large bit consisting of more than one-third of what had 

 been the large end of an egg. It was pure white, dull from the 

 effects of time and much discoloured and stained,, but was easily cleaned. 

 It did not appear ever to have had the slightest gloss on it, nor was 

 the shell at all fine or close in grain. In texture it much reminded 

 me of the eggs of the smaller Barbets, especially X. hcematacephalaj 

 and like the cfrgs of that bird were rather soft and brittle. 



Supposing it to have been of the usual, rather lengthened, shape of 

 the normal egg of the family, I should judge it to have been much 

 about the same size as the average egg of Pomaterhinus ferruginosus^ 

 that is to say, about '85" in lengthy whilst the breadth of the egg is 

 shown to be just "Gl"; the portion in my possession containing the 

 broadest part. 



During the heat of the day this bird is not often visible, generally 

 retiring somewhere ( ? where) after 10 a.m. or so, not to re-appear 

 imtil the cool of the afternoon, unless it is cloudy and about to rain, 

 when they are almost sure to put in an appearance. 



They are certainly not common in these hills, and there are but few 

 places where they may be met with any certainty 5 but there are gener- 

 ally a few on the lower stretches of the Diyung and Kopili Rivers, and 

 there is a roosting place in some limestone caves near the quarries 

 already mentioned. 



I once had an admirable demonstration of the speed of these birds. 

 I was watching a great number of Tachornis infumata hawking over 

 one of the small feeder streams of the Diyung and two or three pairs 

 of Chcetura were also rushing up and down with incredible swiftness. 

 Presently a small hawk, most probably Accipeter vlrgatus, appeared on 

 the scene and perched on a lofty tree beside the stream, whence he 

 jnade several dashes at the smaller swifts, eventually catching one of 

 them. He then attempted higher game, darting out at the Spine-tails 

 as they approached his seat, but by the time he had risen to the height 

 at which the Spine-tails were flying, the latter had passed by and were 

 ah'eady nearly out of sight. 



The sparrow-hawk only tried this game twice, and then realized the 

 utter fruitlessness of his efforts and returned to his original game. 



The cry of this bird is very swift-like, but is loud and extremely shrills 



