366 DACELONIN*. 



at Pine Creek on the 25th September, i8g6. It was in a hollow spout of a swamp gum 

 (Eucalyptus) fifteen feet from the t;round, and contained two slightly incubated eggs. I found 

 another on the gth November, 1896, at Somerset, Cape York, in the hollow spout of a paper-bark 

 tree (Melaleuca). The note of Dacelo cervina is indistinguishable from that of D. leachii, which 

 bird it closely resembles." 



From Western Australia Mr. Tom Carter sends me the following notes : — " The Fawn- 

 breasted Kingfisher (Dacelo cervina), was common about the beds of the great rivers of the north-west 

 of this State. They were very numerous all along the Gascoyne and Lyons Rivers, and their 

 loud cackling notes were heard at early day and again in the evening. In the heat of the day 

 they sleep in dense foliage, and are silent. On October 4th, 1902, I heard their unmistakable 

 notes on the Minilya River for the first time, although I had been across and about it hundreds 

 of times for many years. This was apparently a first visit of the birds. The owners of gardens 

 near the Gascoyne River at Carnarvon, welcomed the presence of these birds, as they caught 

 many mice, snakes, and Silver Eyes (Zosterops gouldij." 



During the journey of the Calvert Exploring Expedition in Western Australia, Mr. G. A. 

 Keartland obtained two adult females, one adult male and one young male, and writes me : — 

 " Dacelo cervina was first seen and heard on the Fitzroy River, in North-western Australia, where 

 these birds were numerous ; and I also found them sparingly scattered through the West 

 Kimberley District. It is readily distinguished by its discordant notes, which convey the idea 

 that something is wrong with its throat." 



A set of three eggs taken at Brock's Creek, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, 

 from the hollow spout of a tree, in January 1903, are indistinguishable except for their smaller 

 size from those of its close congener Dacelo leachii, and measure : — Length (A) 1-67 x 1-38 inches; 

 (B) 172 X 1-37 inches; (C) 1-65 x 1-35 inches. 



Halcyon macleayi. 



MACLEAY'S KINGFISHER. 



Halcyon macleayi, Jard. and Selby, 111. Orn., pi. 101 (1825-39); Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. II., pi. 



24 (1848); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XVII., p. 254 (1892); id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. 



II., p. 58 (1900). 

 Cyanalcyon macleayi, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 133 (1865). 



Adult male — -Forehead, lores, a line heloiv each eye and the ear-coverts black; immediately 

 behind the nostril a large white spot; head, wings and tail ultramarine; inner webs of the quills 

 blackish, the base 0/ all but the outer primaries wldte, forming a band when the tving is extended ; 

 upper wing-coverts bright blue; scapulars and back greenish-cobalt ; rump cobalt-blue; upper ail- 

 coverts idtrainarine ; a broad collar on the hind neck white; sides of neck and all the tinder surface, 

 the under wing and under tail-coverts lohite, the lotver sides of the body washed with buff; bill black, 

 the lower portion of basal half of the under mandible pearly flesh white ; legs and feet dark leaden-grey; 

 iris dark broivn, almost black. Total length in the flesh 8:5 inches, wing '2'75, tail 2'6, bill 1'5, 

 tarsus 0'5. 



Adult female — Resembles the male but is destitute of tlte wlnte collar on the hind neck, this part 

 being ultramarine like the croion of the head and mantle. 



Distribution — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 Northern New South Wales. 



