BY J. D. COX AND A. G. HAMILTON. 401 



Each pair very jealously guards its nest, and fights are common 

 on this account. They build in angles of beams supporting loft- 

 floors, along eaves of houses, under culverts and bridges, and on 

 the steep clay-banks of the river. 



24. Merops ornatus. Lath. 



Arrive here on September 25th, and later, in ones and twos. 

 They come in numbers in the first week in October, and begin 

 nests at once. A sure sign of the completion of the nest is the 

 bluntness of the beaks. Eggs may be taken from the beginning 

 of November till the latter end of December. The main body 

 leaves in February, but we have seen a few as late as March 11th. 

 They are very destructive to bees, like their European representa- 

 tive, and when a pair nest near a hive they live almost entirely 

 on them. Plunges into water for bath. 



25. EURYSTOMUS PACIFICUS, Lath. 



These birds arrive about October 1st, and leave in February. 

 They nest in hollow trees, and we have seen young birds being 

 fed late in December. 



26. Dacelo gigas, Bodd. 



We have repeatedly seen this bird plunge in dams and the 

 river, and secure crayfish or prawns. 



27. Halcyon sanctus, Vig. & Horsf. 



They begin to arrive early in September, the nest is nearly 

 finished on October 3rd, and we have taken eggs in October and 

 up to November 20th. We have seen them as late as March 

 21st. This bird, too, dashes into the water after its prey. When 

 skinning, one of us has found worms between the skin and the 

 flesh. 



28. Halcyon pyrrhopygius, Gld. 



We have noticed this bird first on September 8th, and taken 

 eggs on November 18th. Last seen on March 21st. They have 

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