HALCYON. 371 



of the structure, piece by piece. When tired with the exertion, the other would then take its 

 place, and so on until the whole of the neck was broken away, and the eggs or young birds were 

 reached which were quickly withdrawn and devoured. This was continued for some weeks, the 

 Kingfishers coming every day for their meal. 



" On the 14th November, 1800, while visiting a neighbour of ours near Yandembah Station, 

 he informed me that a pair of Kingfishers had excavated a tunnel in one of the external clay and 

 gravel walls of his house, close to a doorway in which the inmates were constantly passing and 

 repassing. On my going out I found a pair of Halcyon pyrvhopygiits, one of which was engaged m 

 the work of tunnelling, whilst the other was sitting in close proximity ; evidently the burrow 

 was not completed." 



" The Red-backed Kingfisher is a spring and summer visitant to Mossgiel, arriving as a rule 

 in this district in September, and departing after the breeding season is over about the end of 

 February. It prefers the most arid situations and is very seldom met with in the vicinity of 

 water. The nesting sites here chosen are the sides of small dry tanks or old disused sawpits. 

 In these situations it excavates a hole or burrow about two feet in length, and at the end forms a 

 chamber, in which the eggs, four in number for a sitting, are deposited. In Victoria, where I 

 have often found its nests, the burrows are formed in the pillars made by the White Ant." 



From Broken Hill in South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray writes me: — 

 "Halcyon pyrrhopygius goes north from here for the winter and returns early in spring. I have noted 

 them once in August, but most of them return in September, and soon pair off for nesting. They 

 do not frequent the Gum timber along the creeks but are birds of the open country where their 

 plaintive piping call is frequently repeated from the top of a dry bush, from which point of vantage 

 the bird keeps a sharp look out for any creeping thing that comes within range of its keen eyes. 

 It is peculiar that these and other Kingfishers who find their living by the aid of their eyesight 

 alone, very seldom notice an insect or other creature, so long as it keeps perfectly still, even 

 when not protectively coloured it is not seen unless it moves. 



" This Kingfisher usually choses a steep bank of a creek or washaway to tunnel into when 

 nesting time comes. The opening to the passage is usually round and about two and half inches 

 in diameter and from this the passage slopes upward and backward for about twelve inches to 

 the nesting chamber which usually measures about ten inches from front to back, eight inches 

 from side to side, and six inches from floor to roof. The eggs usually five in number, rest on the 

 powdered earth of the floor of the chamber. The usual nesting month is October, extending into 

 November, though in a late season I have known young birds to be taken from the nest in 

 February. They live well in captivity on a meat diet, and are very partial to beetles or insects of 

 any kind. One cannot help remarking how like they are in all their ways to the " Laughing 

 Jackass," any food given them is well beaten against the perch or side of a cage till soft then 

 gulped down." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following note : — " Halcyon pyrrhopygius is occasionally 

 seen in the northern portions of Victoria, especially near the Murray River. I observed it in 

 various parts of Central Australia, and as far west as Geraldton in Western Australia, then 

 north to the Fitzroy River. It is seldom seen in company, except at nesting time, when a 

 pair, or parents and young, are occasionally met with. It frequents open forest country, and 

 lives chiefly on lizards and grasshoppers, and seems to be quite indifferent to the presence of 

 water." 



From Adelaide, South Australia, Dr. A. M. Morgan sends me the following notes : — 

 " Halcyon pyrrhopygius was the common species about Laura, where it took the place of H. saiictits, 

 which did not occur there, but it is a summer visitor only. In October, 1895, a pair tried to 

 nest in a sandpit quite close to the township, but were so often disturbed by boys that they gave 



