359 



the most brilliantly coloured silvery-blue tips to the median upper wing-coverts, and feathers of 

 the rump, was obtained by Mr. William Chalker, at Colo Vale, New South Wales, and who 

 forwarded at my request four specimens, so as to ascertain the food of this species during the 

 depth of winter. 



Stomachs of the birds referred to above contained the remains of insects, principally beetles 

 belonging to the families Elateridtr, Curculionidie and Carabidse, and of other insects found about 



or under bark. One stomach contained in 

 addition to beetles, the remains of a large 

 grass-hopper and portion of a small lizard; 

 another one, the most distended of all, as 

 well as the remains of insects a small Black 

 Snake {Pseudechis porphyriacus ) , fourteen 

 inches in length, and minus its head. 



No bird is more universally known 

 throughout the eastern and southern por- 

 tions of the Australian continent than the 

 Brown Kingfisher, or as it is more fre- 

 quently called the "Laughing Jackass, "and 

 in New South Wales also the " Kookoo- 

 burra." It was first figured by M. Sonnerat, 

 in his " Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee," 

 in 1776, and subsequently described by 

 Boddasrt in 1783. White, one of the earliest 

 writers on the Australian fauna who visited 

 these shores, also figures it in his " Voyage 

 to New South Wales " under the name of 

 the " Great Brown Icing's Fisher." 



It frequents alike open forest and 

 partially cleared lands, heavily timbered 

 mountain ranges and the coastal scrubs if 

 interspersed with trees of a larger growth. 

 Far inland it is seldom met with at any 

 distance from permanent water. The stout 

 and powerful bill of this species is well 

 adapted for securing its prey, its food during spring and summer consisting principally of lizards, 

 rats, mice and small birds and insects. It will also pounce upon and kill a small snake, or plunge 

 into water, but more often in a partially dried creek or waterhole, to secure a fish. Ornamental 

 fish ponds have often to be protected with wire-netting against the depredations of this species. 

 It also eats prawns and small fresh water crayfish. About farms, when opportunities offer, it 

 frequently varies its diet with young chickens. At Roseville a pair of these birds at various 

 times, during the month of September 1905, devoured an entire brood of recently hatched chickens. 

 In a number of stomachs, however, of these birds I have examined, lizards proved to be the 

 staple article of their food. 



It is one of the first birds to usher in the morn with its loud laughter-like notes, and although 

 it may be heard again frequently throughout the day, it is generally about sunset when several 

 are congregated close together in a tree, that the bush fairly resounds with their uproarious 

 and eerie shrieks of merriment. In common with several species of Australian birds the 

 Brown Kingfisher has, when perched, a curious habit of elevating the tail, more especially 



BROWN KINGFISllUll. 



