MEGAL.EMA ZETLANICA. 211 



but at that date I found a nest with four young ones near Mineiy. It hollows out with its powerful bill a hole 

 in a rotten tree just large enough to allow of its entering the egg-cavity, which is some distance down the trunk 

 or branch. It does not use the same nest twice, but having found a tree with wood suited to its work, per- 

 forates it each year for the new nest, as many as 8 or 10 holes being sometimes visible in a tree by a jungle 

 roadside. It is only when sounding wood before making its nest that these birds tap with their bills, the 

 blows being very slowly repeated with perhaps an interval of 10 seconds between each. There are generally 

 a few bents and grass-stalks collected for the eggs to lie on, hut scarcely worthy of the name of nest. The 

 eggs are three or four in number, pure white, glossy, and rather round in shape ; they measure ahout 

 1-1 by 0-9 inch. 



The upper figure in the Plate accompanying this article represents a male of this species from the 

 Western Province. 



2e2 



