on the Golde7i-th7'oated Barbet.



329



alike; but it may be that actually there are differences as in the

case of the Blue-cheeked Barbet. With the latter species, I

found that the sexes in living examples are usually distinguish¬

able, the male, when adult, having a general masculine and

thicker appearance, especially about the head and bill, and it is a

bolder bird. The young male is remarkably like the female ;

and my first attempt at breeding the species was with an adult

and an immature male. Further experiences taught me that

whereas the young male, separated from but placed in the same

room with an adult bird of the same sex, will vigorously and

volubly rail at and defy him, the female is practically mute.


In the wild state these Barbets nest in holes of trees,

usually of their own making, and lay white eggs; occasionally

a little dried grass is found in the nest-hole ; when the space is

limited, the birds, young and old, cock their tails forward over

their backs like the Toucans. With a healthy pair, there should

not be any particular difficulty in getting them to breed in this

country in a suitable garden aviary. Referring again to the

Blue-cheeked species, the female I found to be a nervous bird ;

but a nervous bird in a log-nest cannot see much and thinks it

cannot be seen, and often sits very closely so long as it is 7 iot once

dishirbed. If an old unsound tree trunk were to be put up, in

which the birds could hollow their own nest-hole, the chances of

breeding would be most favourable. Repeatedly in the spring¬

time I have noticed my Barbets in the garden endeavouring to

excavate hollows. Even human beings it must be remembered

usually prefer stones of their own breaking. My second attempt

at breeding Blue-cheeks proved unsuccessful owing to the nest¬

ing receptacle (a very long spout of cork bark) selected by the

birds having been incautiously hung close both to the roof and

to the end of the aviary, under and near to a tree in the next

garden with branches spreading over the back. One night the

cats, aided by this tree, made an assault on the aviary, and the

female Barbet, frightened out of the spout, flew on to the side,

which at that time consisted of single (since those days it has

been double and of smaller mesh) one-inch-mesli wire netting.

In the morning I found the headless body of the poor creature

on the ground, and some seven feet above the spot there was one



