feed again, and before going to roost roams about in small flooks, constant¬ 
ly uttering its harsh note, and settling frequently on the tops of conspicu¬ 
ous and lofty trees* 
In the Slngha Rajah forest their presence at evening was more conspicuous 
than that of any other bird; they darted up and down the deep gorges, ana a- 
eross the small kurukan clearings in the forest, keeping up an Incessant ain; 
now and then they rested on the top of some dead tree standing in the cheena 
and then suddenly glanced off, shooting with arrow-like speed between the 
trees of the forest, again to appear as they swept up the valley and away ov 
er the tops of the gloomy jungle. Its flight is oold and swift, and this, 
together with its harsh cry which can be heard a long way off, seems to dis¬ 
tinguish it easily from P*Cyanocephalus. 
NIDIFICATION 
The breeding season begins in January. It nests in holes in large trees 
but I have never been able to procure the eggs, although I have more than 
once discovered the nest. I have seen one situated In a Hora tree, (Dlp- 
terocarpus Zeylanicus); the old birds, on flying to it, clung to the Dark 
outside the opening, add then pulled themselves Into the hole, using the 
beak to assist them In entering. 
Layard writes that he was informed by natives that they laid two eggs, 
which, like other members of the family, would be pure white* In tne Peak 
wilderness they breed in the decaying trunks of dead Kitool trees. 
The figures lh the drawing are those of an adult female In the foreground 
and of a young male in the background. 
