BATRACHOSTOMTJS MONILIGER. 335 



perhaps these birds pick their food from the trunks of trees as well as capture it on the wing ; in so doing 

 the Podargns most likely took in the stone, which easily descended its capacious throat. Layard writes of 

 one of the two examples he met with, that " it lived three days with me, but refused all food ; during the day 

 it slept, squatting on the ground with its head sunk between its shoulders : on being alarmed it sprang 

 upwards with a sudden jerk, and after executing a rapid summersault in its confined cage, it would again alight 

 and settle down like the Caprimulgi." Mr. "Whyte, of Kandy, kept one, which was taken in a room into 

 which it had flown, for some few days, during which I saw it; it perched on the bottom of the cage with its 

 head up, and when approached and awakened would open its eyes and mouth wide, glare at me and then 

 commence slowly closing its mandibles, which finally came together with a sudden jerk. I made it repeat 

 this gesture several times, and the mouth always closed in the same curious manner. 



Mr. Bourdillon speaks of the peculiar note which I have alluded to above, and likens it to " a loud 

 chuckling cry, with something of the tone of a Goatsucker and not unlike the laugh of a Kingfisher." It 

 is, as he remarks, a difficult call to describe ; but his representation of it is, I think, the best that could be 

 given. I will leave it to my numerous ornithological friends and acquaintances in Ceylon, who will, I hope, 

 be interested in this bird, to prove whether or not this is its note. On one or two occasions I heard it 

 in an isolated bamboo-thicket in the Ratnapura district ; but I was too hurried to halt for the night 

 and search the copse in the morning, which would probably have resulted in my finding the Frog-mouth 

 had it been there. 



Nidification. — The members of this remarkable subfamily of the Caprimulgidfe differ from their allies 

 the true Goatsuckers as much in their nesting-habits as in their anatomy. The Podaryi of Australia 

 construct a nest which they fix on the limb of a tree, and the smaller Batrachostomi of Asia nest in a 

 similar manner. Nothing has been discovered concerning the Ceylonese Frog-mouth's nesting ; but I will 

 subjoin the following interesting account of the nidification of the Travancore bird, inasmuch as I think it 

 applies to the Ceylonese one as well. Mr. Bourdillon is the only person who has been fortunate enough to 

 discover any particulars concerning the nidification of any of the Batrachostomi. The nest to which he refers 

 in the following notes, which Mr. Hume kindly sends me, was found on the 24th of February 1876, in rather 

 open jungle at an elevation of 2100 feet on the Travancore hills. 



Mr. Hume says, in epist., Bourdillon's account of the nest of B. moniliyer is as follows : — 



" The nest was brought to me one evening by a coolie who had been working in the jungle. 



" It was composed of vegetable down neatly and compactly interwoven with pieces of dead leaves, 

 fragments of bark and dry wood, and one or two pieces of lichen. In shape it is a sort of disk about 

 21 inches broad and \\ inch deep, the upper surface being slightly hollowed out. The young one, partially 

 fledged, was unmistakably a Frog-mouth, from the colour of his plumage, bill, and huge gape. On receiving 

 the nest I at once went with the man, and restoring it to its original position, sat down to watch. 



" The chick (I quote from my notes) was much pleased at finding himself in his old quarters, and 

 repeatedly shook himself, as if he could not at first settle down into a comfortable position, this shaking 

 being attended with some danger, as once or twice the bird seemed within an ace of rolling out of the nest. 

 At intervals of about ten minutes it uttered a feeble chirruping call, not unlike an " Ice "-bird at a distance. 

 As darkness increased its cry was more frequent and became a single chirp. I watched till night closed in 

 and it became pitch dark without seeing any thing of the old bird, though once something which might have 

 been either bird or bat flitted past. 



" Next morning I returned some time before sunrise, and in the moonlight had a good view of one of 

 the old birds seated on the nest. 



" It was in a very peculiar position, more lying down than sitting, with its head well up in the air. 

 The nest was not 15 feet from the ground, in a fork of a sapling, apparently without any attempt at conceal- 

 ment, so that I was able to approach very close to the bird, which, without moving, merely opened its large 

 eyes to stare at me. Now comes the worst part of the story. I was so anxious to secure the specimen that 

 I determined to shoot it on the nest ; accordingly I retired as far as possible and fired, the result, owing 

 to intervening bushes, being that, to my great disappointment, the bird went off into the jungle hard hit and 

 was lost. 



