556 IVESTS A. YD EGGS OF AUSTRALIA!^ BIRDS. 



hole. With regard to Gould's doubtful species Dac.clu dcciJeidalis, it 

 seems to Dr. Sharpe to be inseparable from D. cervina, the under sur- 

 face, he remarks, being perhaps rather paler and the crossbars more 

 obsolete. In the "Zoological Collections of H.M.S. Alert" (1884), 

 pp. 22-4, Dr. Sharpe gives some interesting critical remarks on a large 

 series of Laughing Jackasses in the British Museum. He says: — " Ihe 

 baning of the tail feathers must be set aside, being merely dependent 

 upon age ; but, taking D. cervina as the central fonn or leading type 

 of the Blue-tailed Jackasses of Austraha, we find that eastward (in 

 Queensland) it varies to tlic extent of becoming a larger bird, whiter 

 underneath, and always more or less barred on the under-surface, the 

 throat included (I). Icdcliii). In the western j)art of its range, the 

 bird has a tendency to become imiform underneath (D. uccidciifalisj, 

 but this may be due to the bleaching effect of I he climate." 



444. -Halcyon macleayi, Janliue A- Selby. — (GG) 

 FOREST KINGFISHER. 



Fii'ure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. .24. 



Rcjercnre. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xvii., p. 254. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of .Vustralia (1848) , 

 also Handbook, vol. i., p. 134 (1S65); North: Ausln. Mus. 

 Cat., p. 38 (18S9). 



Geographical Distrihution. — North-west Australia, Norih rii Tcn-i- 

 tory, Queensland and New South Wales ; also New Guinea. 



Sent. — A liole in a tree or tree-ants' (termites') nest. 



Eggs. — Clutch, fom- to five; roimd or round oval in shape; texture 

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

 of a proper dutch : (1) 1-0 x -8."). (2) -99 x -84, (3) -99 x -8, (4) -98 x -82. 



Uhxt-rvafionx. — I possess pleasant recollections of several pairs of 

 these lovely Kingfishers that used to scream about our camp in a tropi- 

 cal forest near CiU'dwell. When they sometimes perclicd on a telegrapli 

 line close by we could not suflSciently admire tiieir rich I'russian-blue 

 coats and pure white vinder-surfaces. The birds are slightly smaller 

 than the common Kingfisher, The male pcssesses a white collar or 

 ring round the neck, which adormnent is absent in the female. I again 

 renewed the ac(ju:iinlance of the Forest or Macliay Kingfisher in tlie 

 Richmond River district. New South Wales, but of course it is not so 

 prevalent there as witliin the tropics. My son Archie, when in the 

 same district, 1897, noticed a nest of this Kingfisher drilled into a 

 clump of stag-horn fern ( I', ti/rirnriie). 



