ANTHEACOCHEOS. 73 



large enough for me to introduce my hand and arm. No sooner 

 had I done so, however, than the female who was, as I feel sure, 

 seated on eggs, seized my wrist, with a grasp like that of a 

 vice, uttering the most horrible cries and fluttering and struggling 

 the while in the most determined manner. However, with some 

 difficulty I dragged her out, and having ascertained with my disen- 

 gaged hand that there ivere eggs in the hollow, I managed to 

 despatch her by pressing her with my knee against the tree ; I was 

 sorry to do this, but then her skin was necessary for the sake of 

 the eggs. Having dropped her I proceeded to take the latter out ; 

 these were two in number, of a dirty yellowish-stained white colour, 

 and were resting on a few fragments of bark, a feather or two, and 

 several berries in all stages of decay. They were, I regret to say, 

 both cracked, evidently done in the struggle of taking the bird out, 

 who by the way was as fat as butter and in first-rate feather, 

 not looking at all ragged or dirty as I expected. The hollow was 

 about 2 feet long by 10 inches in height, the entrance being an 

 irregular oval in shape, and measuring 10 inches by 7j inches, 

 after the plastered dung was alljemoved. I forgot to mention that 

 my attention was attracted to the nest by seeing the cock bird 

 feeding its mate ; this he did by putting single berries one after 

 another ijito the tip of her bill which was shoved out of the slit, 

 after receipt of each berry she withdrew her beak apparently to 

 swallow the food. I watched him for a good ten minutes with my 

 binoculars before he saw me and took the alarm and flew off." 



Subsequently he writes : — " I was rather too early for the eggs 

 of this species ; out of many nests examined only two contained 

 eggs, and these two only one each. "What the full complement may 

 be I am ignorant. Myat-jo says four, possibly, but once before I 

 took the eggs of this species and that was later on in March, and 

 then there were only two, but that was up in the Northern jungles 

 near Hpapoon, where possibly they breed later. I have described 

 the nest and eggs before, so have nothing to add except that the 

 present eggs were found in hollows in kanyin trees {Dipterocarpus 

 alatus) standing dead and partially burnt in an old cultivation 

 clearing. One nest must have been fully at the height of 100 

 feet above the ground, the other not half that. The eggs measure 

 2-04 by 1-37 and 1-84 by 1-39 respectively." 



And again he adds the following note :— " A very common bird 

 in the Thoungyeen valley. Subsequently to the taking of the two 

 nests, as described above, I had marked down for me and procured 

 three more nests on the 5th March, 1 880, of which _one contained 

 a single egg, and two, two eggs each." 



The eggs are typically much the shape of hen's eggs, and like 

 these are sometimes a little broader, sometimes a little more elon- 

 gated^ and sometimes more pointed at the small end than the normal 

 type. The shell is rather close and compact, the pores very in- 

 conspicuous ; white and with a slight gloss when quite fresh, but 

 rapidly losing this and becoming discoloured as incubation pro- 



