AXASTOMUS OSCITAXS. 1105 



in Jerdon's ' Birds of India' : — " Many years ago several Shell-eaters were brought to rne alive for the purpose 

 of training Bhyri, and these, as is xisual, to prevent them struggling or fluttering, had their eyes sewn up. 

 To feed them the falconer had a quantity of the large Ampullaria brought, which were placed before the 

 captive and blind Shell-eaters. The bird secured a shell by its feet and after sundry alterations of its 

 position succeeded in cutting off the operculum as clearly as if it had been done by a razor, but so rapidly 

 that I was unable to see the exact way in which it was accomplished. It then inserted the tip of its clumsy 

 beak into the open mouth of the shell, and after working it about for a short time pulled out the entire 

 shellfish almost to its utmost tip. I saw this process repeated many times, and I cannot conceive that a 

 bird which takes the trouble to extract the animal from the comparatively brittle Ampullaria should require to 

 bruise the more hard and solid shell of the Unio." Although shellfish form the main food of the Shell-Ibis, 

 as all its native names testify, it will eat frogs and fish, but will not live long in confinement, writes Lieut. 

 Bingham, if kept long on an exclusively fish diet. This writer also says that at night they utter a curious 

 laughing chattering noise, with frequent clatterings of the bill. These birds are caught, according to an 

 informant of Dr. Jerdon, by means of a bamboo with a noose attached, which is bent down and fixed lightly 

 in the ground by a small peg, to which an Ampullaria is fixed. "The Shell-eater hunting about finds the 

 shell, and moving it to get at its contents the peg is withdrawn, the bamboo flies up, and the noose catches 

 the bird, which remains dangling in mid air." 



Nidification. — The Shell-Ibis breeds in the south of Ceylon in January, February, and March. I found 

 them nesting in considerable numbers at Uduwila tank ; but at the time of my visit the young w 7 ere all 

 hatched and some of them well grown. The nests were large flat structures of sticks, the egg-platforms being 

 lined with small twigs and roots ; they were placed in the same trees with the nests of the last species. The 

 old birds flew up into the air, mounted to a great height, circling round and round like Herring-Gulls, and 

 frequently descended from a great altitude with a terrific rush and booming noise of the wing until they 

 almost touched the trees, from which the momentum of their heavy bodies enabled them to mount again in 

 the same swoop. Beyond this they showed no sign of defending their nests. Layard refers to the assertion 

 of the natives that these birds " defended their nests with such pertinacity that they feared to mount to 

 them." This of course was nothing more than the common excuse made by the country people on all such 

 occasions. 



In India this species breeds in July and August, great numbers repairing to the Central Ganges, Doab, 

 for this purpose. They build on lofty Peepul- and Neem-trees, on which occasionally as many as sixty-two 

 nests may be seen. They are repaired year after year, and are circular platforms about 20 inches in diameter, 

 with a shallow depression in the centre, which is sometimes lined with tufts of grass or a few leaves. The 

 e°"gs vary in number from 2 to 5, and are at first pure white, becoming afterwards stained to a deep yellowish- 

 brown colour; they are oval in shape, the average size of two specimens being 2 - 2 inches in length by 1'49 

 in breadth [Bingham). A large series vary, according to Mr. Hume, from 2 - to 2'52 inches in length, and 

 from 1-48 to 1'82 in breadth. 



