MEGALiEMA ZEYLANICA. 
211 
but at that date I found a nest with four young ones near Minerv. 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 ot 10 seconds between each. There are geneiallv 
a few bents and grass-stalks collected for the eggs to lie on, but 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 about 
1 - 1 by 09 inch. 
The upper figure in the Plate accompanying this article represents a male of this species from the 
Western Province. 
