395 



OOLOGICAL NOTES. 



By Alfred J. North, F.L.S., Assistant in Ornithology, 

 Australian Museum, 



I. Notes on the Nesting-place and Eggs of Halcyon sordidus, 

 Gould. 



Halcyon sordidus, the Mangrove Kingfisher. 

 TcJioon gun gun^ Aborigines of Hinchinbrook Island. 



This fine species of Halcyon, exceeding in size all other Aus- 

 tralian members of the genus, inhabits the mangrove-lined mouths 

 of the rivers and creeks of Northern and North-eastern Australia^ 

 being recorded at intervals along the coast-line and contiguous 

 islands in favourable situations, from Port Darwin in the Northern 

 Territory, to the neighbourhood of Eraser's Island and Wide Bay- 

 in South-eastern Queensland, and its range also extends to the 

 Aru Islands and those of the Lonisiade Group. It never ventures 

 far inland, but is restricted in its habitat to those estuarine areas 

 and salt-water creeks and marshes of the coast which are clothed 

 with a dense growth of mangroves ; in these secure haunts it 

 obtains its food, which consists principally of small fish and 

 crustaceans. 



Mr. J. A. Boyd, of the Herbert River, Queensland, who has 

 contributed largely towards a knowledge of the nidification of 

 many birds in that district, informs me that it is not an uncommon 

 species on the Herbert and Seymour Rivers, especially during the 

 winter months, Recently Mr. Boyd has been successful in finding 

 the hitherto unrecorded nesting-place of this species, the eggs of 

 which he has kindly forwarded to me for description, together 

 with the following interesting notes relative to the taking of them. 

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