(;i;8 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



entrance of a hole in a bank ; while in the Darling district. New South 

 Wales, Dr. Kamsay records tliat his brother took live eggs from the 

 end of a tunnel in the bank of a recently made dam. Eggs have been 

 taken in October and Novemljer. 



446. — H.M.cYON SANCTUS, Vigors & Horsfleld. — (63) 

 SACRED KINGFISHER. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. 21. 



Rejcrcncc. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xvii., p. 267. 



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

 also Handbook, vol. i., p. 130 (i86t;) ; North : I'roc. I. inn. Snc, 

 N.S. Wales, 2nd ser., vol. ii., p. 441 (1887), also .\ustn. Mus. 

 Cat., p. 37 (1889) ; North : Trans. Koy. Soc, .South .\ustralia. 

 vol. xxii., p. IJ4 (i8!,8) ; Le .Souef : Victorian Naturalist, vol. 

 xvi., p. 71 (1899). 



Geofirii fihiral Dixiril.iiliitii . — Wliole of Australia and Ta-sniania ; also 

 New Guinea and adj;u'ent islands, New Caledonia, Solomon Islajids, 

 New Hebrides, Moluccas. Celebes, Lombock. Java, and Sumatra. 



Xeat. — A hole usually drilled into a decayed notch or elbow of 

 a cucalypt or other tree. Occasionally the hole is drilled into the 

 nest of the tree-ants or termites, situated in a fork or on boles of 

 trees. Rjirely is a hole tunnelled into a bank. 



Efigs. — Clutch, four to five; roiuid in form, contracted at one end; 

 texture of shell fine ; surfa<'C glossy ; colour, pure wliite. Dimensions 

 in inches of a proper clutch : ("l) l"l x -87. VI) l-OG x -88, (3) 1-04 x -86. 

 (4) 1-02 X -86. 



Ohservntinnx. — In spring and summer we are .ill famili.ir with the 

 loud " pee-pee-pee " notes of the Sacred Halcyon or Kingfisher. The 

 bird is well known by its long bill ,and contracted neck. Its coat, 

 including head and tail, is generally of a groenisli-blne. The broad 

 collar round the neck ;ind underneath parts are light liulT. and tiiere 

 is a deeper shade on the flanks. A conspicuous line from the nostrils 

 over each eye is .also buff. Feet greenish ; eyes dark brown. Total 

 length of bird, 8J inches, including bill 2 inches. 



Gould observed in New South Wales the birds appeared in August, 

 and l)y the middle of Sijitcmber were plentifully disjicised over all 

 parts of (he country, and that after the breeding se.ison they began to 

 disappear northward, and by the end of January ven- few were seen. 

 Some of those birds would tlicrefore seem to retire nortliward earlier 

 than the u.sual i-un of migratory species. My earliest and latest notes 

 for this Kingfisher in the south are respectively 12th Septeml)or (1894), 

 in Rivcrina, and 3rd Maicli (ISOfi) at the Dandeiiiuigs. However, in 

 the vicinit}' of Melbourne on one occasion I fancied I heard a Sacred 

 Kingfisher, on miL'ration .i-i rarlv a« the 71 li S('|>t<'inbcr, at night. 



