360 DACELONIN.E. 



when it has just alighted upon a branch. It has rather a heavy and laboured flight, during 

 which time the white bases to the quills are conspicuously displayed. 



From the Bloomfield River, North-eastern Queensland, Mr. Frank Hislop sends me the 

 following note : — " Dacelo gigas breeds in a Termites' mound on a tree. They generally lay three 

 eggs, though often four. The birds are seldom seen in the scrub, except in the dry weather, and 

 their nests are always in the forest land or just at the edge of the scrub. They live on lizards, 

 small snakes, grasshoppers, and also small fish." 



Mr. A. F. Smith writes me from Hambledon Plantation, near Cairns : — " Dacelo gigas is far 

 commoner here than D. leachi, while the reverse is the case on the Herbert River, where D. gigas 

 is almost unknown." 



From Duaringa, on the Dawson River, Queensland, ^Ir. H. B. Barnard writes me: — Dacelo 

 gigas breeds in a hollow spout of a tree, or in a White Ants' nest built on a tree, and the eggs 

 are three or four in number for a sitting. These birds are very pugnacious when their nest is 

 being robbed. I once had one strike me on the arm with its beak, drawing the bloood freely. 

 They breed here from September to October." 



Mr. George Savidge writes me from Copmanhurst, Upper Clarence River, New South 

 Wales : — ^'Dacelo gigas is common here. They live on worms, grubs, beetles, lizards and mice. 

 In this locality they are as often found breeding in the nests of Termites, on trees, as they are in 

 the hollow spouts of limbs. It breeds mostly in September and October, although I have taken 

 fresh eggs from the 2gth September until the gth November. One of these birds charged my 

 black, who had climbed the tree in which it had its nest. The bird's beak entered just under 

 his right eye ; had it been an inch higher up it would have blinded him. The bird had young, 

 and he never heard or saw it coming towards him." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. Austin writes me as 

 follows : — " Until the 1902 drought Dacelo gigas was very plentiful throughout the Dubbo and 

 Mudgee Districts, but now, in 1908, only occasional pairs are to be seen. I know of no bush 

 bird which is more alrected by a drought than Dacelo gigas. Why this should be it is difficult 

 to understand, because their principal food consists of small birds and small mammals. During 

 the winter of 1902 I noticed a great many of them dead. I once had two pet ones ; these I often 

 fed on raw meat till they would eat no more ; I would then walk a short distance away from 

 them, and hold up a dead Sparrow. They would be all excitement at once, and come to me as 

 quickly as their short legs would carry them, when their appetites would be as keen as ever. My 

 experience is that it is almost impossible to keep pet ones, as the wild birds will eventually 

 come and kill them." 



From Melbourne Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me : — " Although Dacelo gigas is plentiful 

 in open forest lands, where their food consists chiefly of mice, lizards and young snakes, it 

 is a common occurrence to see them dash into the water in several of the ornamental ponds 

 in the public gardens around Melbourne and seize the goldfish. I once saw five eggs taken from 

 a nesting place." 



While resident at Hamilton, in South-western \ictoria, Dr. W. Macgillivray wrote as follows 

 relative to this species : — " Several of these birds had their nesting places within easy walking 

 distance of Coleraine, so that I was able to keep them well under observation for the two seasons 

 that I resided in that town. This bird very rarely nests in a natural hollow in a tree, nearly 

 always excavating one for itself from the softened or rotten centre of a living or dead tree with 

 its beak, a proceeding which usually takes some considerable time ; once-formed the same 

 hollow is resorted to year after year. The Sacred Kingfisher has the same habit, but occasionally 

 makes use of the bank of a creek. When food, which generally consists of lizards, beetles, 

 worms, frogs, crayfish, and other small fry is plentiful, a full brood of three or four young ones 



