dwell In very close fellowship with It, except of course in the breeding 
season, when it may be seen in pairs in the same tree. It lives entirely 
on fruit and seeds like the rest of its congeners, but does not congregate 
in large flocks, as in many species. The flight of this Barbet is tolerab^ 
swift, but of necessity somewhat laboured; it is performed with quick beat¬ 
ings of the wings with now and then a,long dipping motion. 
NIDIFICATION 
The breeding season of this little bird lasts from March till June, and 
it usually nests In the decayed branches of living trees, the bread fruit (w 
(which is generally much encumbered with dead top branches) being a favour¬ 
ite resort with it. It plies itself to the task of excavating the hole 
with great assiduity, first slowly tapping the wood all over until it has 
found what it imagines is a soft place; very often after working In for an 
Inch or so, it will find that the wood is too hard for its capabilities, and 
will then try another spot in the same branch. A nest I once found was in 
the topmost bough of a bread fruit; the habitation was an old one, but close 
i 
to it were one or two essays at making a fresh hole; the wood had evidently 
proved too hard for it, and it had returned, perhaps reluctantly, to the old 
nest. The branch was about four or five inches in diameter, and the hole 
entering the cavity two inches, perfectly round; the nest was about six in¬ 
ches below the aperture, and the young, which were three in number, reposed 
upon the bare wood, without any nest lining whatever. 
The eggs are glossy white, rather spherical in shape, and measure about 
*9 by- * 65 inches. 
In the drawing the head of the young bird pepresents the nestling after 
quitting the nest. 
