370 DACELONIN.*. 



telegraph wire. I observed it near the Namoi and Gwydir Rivers, in Northern New South 

 Wales, and there are specimens in the Australian Museum collection procured by me at Moree, 

 four hundred and thirteen miles north of Sydney ; also at Coonamble, three hundred and seventy 

 eight miles west of Sydney. In enumerating a list of the birds of the Mudgee District, Messrs. 

 J. D. Cox and A. G. Hamilton '■■ remark of Halcyon pyirhopygius :— " We have noticed this bird 

 first on the 8th September, and taken eggs on the i8th November. Last seen on the 21st March. 

 They have a penchant for sitting on the telegraph wires." 



This species is another instance of a bird not occurring near the coast in New South Wales, 

 although it does inland, while in Queensland it occurs both inland and on the coast, and there 

 are specimens in the collection obtained by Mr. George Masters at Port Denison in 1867. There 

 is also another, an adult female, procured by him in South Australia in 1864, but the precise 

 locality is not recorded on the label, and it differs from any other example in the collection by 

 having a decided rufous wash extending over the mantle on to the broad white collar of the 

 lower portion of the hind neck. 



It loves to perch near the end of a dead branch, a position favorable for obtaining its prey, 

 which consists principally of small reptiles, insects of various kinds, and young birds. Close by 

 where I shot a pair of these birds at Coonamble, a small colony of Fairy Martins had built their 

 nests on the under side of a leaning Eucalyptus, and within two feet of the ground. I had been 

 watching these nests for a week or more, when one morning I found the necks of several of the 

 nests wrenched off, also portions of the nests, and a mass of mud-pellets, feathers, grass and newly 

 hatched dead young ones, all mixed up together on the ground. Whether the damage had been 

 done by this pair of Red-backed Kingfishers, as in a similar instance recorded by the late Mr. 

 K. H. Bennett, I know not, but I attributed it to a pair of Ravens, who had a nest in the 

 neighbourhood. 



From Duaringa, on the Dawson River, Queensland, Mr. H. G. Barnard sends me the 

 following note : — " Halcyon pyrrhopygius usually breeds here in a hole in the bank of a creek, and 

 sometimes in the nests of Termites on trees. In October, 1907, three sets taken by me contained 

 five eggs in each." 



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

 follows : — " The first time I knew of Halcyon pyrrhopygius visiting these parts was during September 

 1907, when several pairs came here to breed. Of four nests I examined that season I found an 

 adult bird dead within two of them. This season (1908) I have examined seven nests, five of 

 which had eggs, the other two young. They are rather late breeders ; most of them start nesting 

 about the end of November. I have never known them to nest in a tree, but they always drill 

 a hole into the bank of a creek, and usually a dry one. In choosing a situation for their nest 

 they differ from Halcyon sanctus ; the latter species usually makes a hole in soft sandy soil at the 

 top of a bank, but H. pyrrhopygius appears to be able to drill its nesting hole almost anywhere, 

 even into hard clay and gravel, and is very often about half way down the bank." 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett sent me the following interesting notes: — "Under the verandah 

 of the homestead on Yandembah Station, near Booligal, New South Wales, a number of Fairy 

 Martins' (Lagenoplastes arid) nests were clustered together. One day I observed a pair of the 

 Red-backed Kingfisher (Todivhamphus pyrrhopygius) perched on one of the rustic branches attached 

 to a verandah post. Curious to know what was the object of the Kingfishers in coming to 

 such an unusual place, I watched them and had not long to wait to ascertain the cause of their 

 visit. The eggs and young birds contained in the Fairy Martins' nests were the attraction, and 

 I was exceedingly interested in the manner in which the birds extracted them. One of the 

 Kingfishers would fly up to a nest, and clinging to its rough sides, break off with its bill the neck 



• Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd Ser.. Vol. IV., p. 401 {1889). 



