546 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Nesi. — A chamber or excavation at the termination of a small tunnel 

 about three or four feet in length, drilled into a sand ridge or bank, 

 but sometimes driven obliquely into flat ground. 



E<j(js. — Clutili, four to five; round or round oval in form; texture 

 of shell fine ; surface glossy ; coloiu", pure white. Dimensions in inches 

 of a clutch; (1, oval) -95 x -74, (2, oval) -94 x '77, (3, round) -89 x -75, 

 (4, round) -86 x -78. 



Observations. — Among the Australian birds there is none so graceful 

 and few more beautiful than the Bee Eater. It has two small, plimied, 

 central tail feathers, and general phunage of rich golden green and sky 

 blue. Tlie throat is rich yellow. Beneatii that marking is a band 

 of black. The long, pointed, and slightly curved bill is black, while 

 the lovely eyes are ruby, and the remarkably small feet arc nondescript 

 g^'een. Length of bird, 10 inches, including tail G inches, and bill 1| 

 inches. Like many of our birds, it is a partial migrant, wandering 

 between the northern and southern parts of the Continent, according 

 to the season. Gould has recorded that some* of the Bee Eaters arrive 

 in New South Wales from nortliward in August (? September), depart- 

 ing again in Marcli. I found that in their southern limit in Victoria and 

 South-west Australia the birds arrive about the beginning of October 

 and commence to drill their nesting holes about the end of the first 

 week in November, laying late in that month or the beginning ot 

 December. Although not altogether gregarious, Bee Eaters frequently 

 nest neai* each other in sand ridges or other favourable spots. Once 

 in December I spent a hot afternoon on the natural embankments that 

 rise on the east side of the salt lakes in the Bcnjeroop (Victoria) district. 

 Into one of these singular banks many of the gorgeous birds had drilled 

 their tunnels. Before I reached the egg chamber of the first hole 

 I had to mine fully the length of my gun. Having secured the 

 pearly set of eggs, on account of the intense heat and dust I gave up 

 fiulher exploration, to the probable satisfaction of the other beautiful 

 birds. However, my friend Mr. George H. Morton at another time, 

 26th November, persevered near tlie same locality, taking five clu'ches, 

 namelj' : 5, 5, 4, 4, and 2 eggs respectively. 



With regard to the Bee Eater. Mr. Hermann Lau lias left some 

 very interesting notes in manuscript. On the Darling Downs (Q.). he 

 observes, the birds come in Septem1x>r, leaving in FcbmaiT. He 

 always found the entrance to the tunnel of their nest faced west and 

 north, to avoid, apparently, the rainy weather from the opjwsite 

 (hrections. Wiien bun-owing, the birds work with zest, the tunnel 

 often extending to a length of four to five feet, and in a slant of about 

 fifty degrees. The excavation at (he end of the tunnel in some 

 instances w<vs large, .about two .nid a half feet in circumference. 

 "What," Mr. Lau .asks, "becomes of all the sand displaced? because 

 wc rarely see more than a handful, in the fonn of a little ridge at the 

 entrance." He answers his own ([ucstion by supposing that tli(> birds 



• AM nvidenilv 'lo not miRralc, because crrs have Iwen t.iken in North Queens- 

 l.ind during October. 



