ALCYONE. 355 



six eggs, but upon one occasion I rooted out a nest, and three eggs were laid, which 1 left, and 

 when I visited the nest again about a week later the nest contained seven eggs. The breeding 

 season commences early in September, and I have found eggs as late as December." 



From Melbourne Mr. G. A. Heartland writes me as follows : — " One of the prettiest sights 

 along the course of the Yarra is to watch Alcyone azurea sitting motionless on some snag or 

 overhanging branch waiting for some small fish to approach the surface of the water in order to 

 seize some insect. Just as the seizure is about to take place the Kingfisher darts into the water 

 and emerges with the unwary fish in its bill, and then flies off to feed its young or devour its 

 prey. I have never seen them fly overland." 



From Adelaide Dr. A. M. Morgan sends me the following notes : — " A pair of Alcyone azurea 

 are always to be seen in the Botanical Gardens, where they prey upon the young gold fish in the 

 ornamental ponds. I have seen them at all times of the year. There are a few pairs on nearly 

 all the creeks which I have visited, but I think the majority of them are only summer visitors. 

 On the Torrens, at the Reedbeds, they are fairly numerous, and live upon a species of Galaxias 

 and the small Crayfish (Asiacopsis hicarinatus ) , which they capture by diving and then break up on 

 a convenient log. They nest in any convenient bank, the hole being sometimes as much as four 

 feet long, but I have not found a nest for many years, chiefly because I am loth to disturb .so 

 beautiful a bird." 



Mr. Edwin Ashby writes me from Blackwood, South .Australia: — '■'■Alcyone azurea occurs 

 infrequently throughout the Adelaide Hills, in suitable localities, generally small running streams 

 or permanent waterholes. I have taken a bird out of a small tunnel bored in a creek bank, a 

 foot or so above the water line." 



Dr. Lonsdale Holden also, when resident at Circular Head, Tasmania, wrote me as follows : — 

 " I have found the nest of Alcyone diemenensis once only, and that on the agth October, 1899, near 

 the mouth of Detention River, on the North-west coast of Tasmania ; the nidification in all 

 respects is like that of the English Kingfisher, a hollow in a bank over a river, and a scanty 

 collection of tiny fish bones at the end of it. The hole would not admit my hand without 

 enlargement, and sloped a little upwards ; the nest chamber was the length of my fore-arm from 

 the orifice, and might hold two small fists. The nest contained six hard set nearly round, glossy 

 white eggs." Subsequently Dr. Holden sent me the following note: — "I was told of a nest, 

 where a bird was feeding young at Deep Creek, Duck River, on the 29th October, 1893 ! i' was 

 formed in the earth, between the roots of a fallen tree at the edge of the creek, and egg shells 

 were seen outside the nesting place." 



Under the name of Alcyone diemenensis, Mr. E. D. Atkinson, while resident at Table Cape, 

 North-west Coast, Tasmania, forwarded me the eggs of this species for description, together with 

 the following note: — "The eggs oi Alcyone diemenensis were taken on nth January, 1890, by Mr. 

 M. Ford, who lives near me, from a hole in the bank of Seabrook Creek, in this neighbourhood. 

 I have measured the hole, finding it, including the chamber, twenty inches in length ; there was 

 nothing in the way of a nest, only bare ground and a few small fish bones and scales." The 

 two eggs from this nesting place measure respectively (A) o'ga x 077 inches ; (B) 0-93 x o-8 

 inches. 



The Rev. R. N. Atkinson, of Evandale, Tasmania, found a nesting place on the 31st October, 

 1887, containing six fresh eggs; it was in a hole in a bank, and the terminal enlarged chamber 

 was scantily lined with fish bones. 



For the purposes of breeding it digs a tunnel in a bank, usually about a foot or two above 

 the surface of the water, and gently sloping upwards, for a length of from two feet six inches to 

 three feet six inches in length, and in an enlarged chamber at the terminus deposits its eggs on 

 a mass of cast fish-bones and scales or remains of crustaceans, or wing cases of water-beetles. 



