Eulabes ptilogenys (_Bl.), Hume, cat._ no. 693 bis.
Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"This species breeds
in June, July, and August, laying its eggs in a hole of a tree, or in
one which has been previously excavated by the Yellow-fronted Barbet
or Red Woodpecker. It often nests in the sugar- or kitool-palm, and in
one of these trees in the Peak forest I took its eggs in the month of
August. There was an absence of all nest or lining at the bottom of
the hole, the eggs, which were two in number, being deposited on the
bare wood. The female was sitting at the time, and was being brought
fruit and berries by the male bird. While the eggs were being taken
the birds flew round repeatedly, and settled on an adjacent tree,
keeping up a loud whistling. The eggs are obtuse-ended ovals, of
a pale greenish-blue ground-colour (one being much paler than the
other), sparingly spotted with large and small spots of lilac-grey,
and blotched over this with a few neutral-brown and sepia blots. They
measure from 1·3 to 1·32 inch in length by 0·96 to 0·99 in breadth."