ity is a neat circular hole in a tree at heights varying from 15
to 50 feet. Most birds which rear their broods in holes enter and
leave the nest cavity fearlessly, even when they know they are being
watched by human beings, evidently feeling that their eggs or young
birds are securely hidden away in the heart of the tree. Not so the
_Megalaema_. It is as nervous about the site of its nest as a lapwing
is. Nevertheless, on one occasion, when the nest of a pair of the
great Himalayan barbets was opened out and found to contain an egg
and a young bird, which latter was left unmolested, the parent birds
continued to feed the young one, notwithstanding the fact that the
nest had been so greatly damaged. The eggs are white, like those of
all species which habitually nest in holes.

_PART II_
_The Common Birds of the Nilgiris_

_THE COMMON BIRDS OF THE NILGIRIS_

The avifauna of the Nilgiris is considerably smaller than that of
the Himalayas. This phenomenon is easily explained. The Nilgiris
occupy a far less extensive area; they display less diversity of
climate and scenery; the lofty peaks, covered with eternal snow, which
form the most conspicuous feature of the Himalayan landscape, are
wanting in the Nilgiris.

The birds found in and about a Nilgiri hill station differ in character
from those of the plains distant but a score of miles.

Of the common birds of the plains of Madras, the only ones that are
really abundant on the Nilgiris are the black crow, the sparrow, the
white-eye, the Madras bulbul, the myna, the purple sunbird, the
tailor-bird, the ashy wren-warbler, the rufous-backed shrike, the
white-browed fantail flycatcher, the Indian pipit, the Indian
skylark, the common kingfisher, the pied crested cuckoo, the
scavenger vulture, the Pondicherry vulture, the white-backed vulture,
the shikra, the spotted dove, and the little brown dove.

The distribution of the avifauna of mountainous countries is largely
a matter of elevation. At the base of the Nilgiris all the plains
birds of the neighbourhood occur, and most of them extend some way
up the hillsides. The majority, however, do not ascend as high as
1000 feet.

At elevations of 3000 feet the avifauna of the hills is already
markedly different from that of the plains; nevertheless many of the
hill species do not descend to this level, at any rate in the summer.

It is, therefore, necessary, when speaking of a plains bird as
occurring or not