372 daceloninjE. 



it up and left. I found a nest in the banks of Pine Creek, near Laura, on 2nd November, 1895, 

 containing five fresh eggs. The hole was about four feet deep, and there was no nest. The 

 male is slightly smaller than the female, and rather brighter in colour. I found a nest at Mt. 

 (junson, drilled in a bank amongst a number of White-breasted Swallows' nesting holes, which I 

 attributed to this bird, as there was a dead young one directly beneath the entrance, the hole 

 being empty. It never visits the Laura District later than February." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes me from Western Australia : — " Halcyon pyrrliopygius was fairly 

 common about creeks in the north-west, where its mournful whistle may be constantly heard 

 in the spring months. One specimen I shot contained several scorpions of some considerable 

 size. This bird was never seen on the coast." 



For the purposes of breeding this species tunnels a hole, but there seems to be no choice 

 whether it is in the side of a tank or sawpit, in a Termites' nest on a tree, or on the ground, or 

 in the clay and gravel walls of a house, the eggs being deposited in an enlarged chamber at the 

 extremity. 



The eggs are four or five in number for a sitting, nearly rounder rounded-oval in form, pure 

 white, the shell being close-grained, smooth and slightly lustrous. A set of three taken at 

 Wattagoona, near Louth, by Mr. Edward Lord Ramsay, m October, 1887, measures: — Length 

 (A) I-0.3 X 0*85 inches; (B) 1-05 x 0-87 inches; (C) i'03 x 0-93 inches. A very evenly-sized 

 set of four taken by Mr. Charles Watson at Merungle Station, near Booligal, New South Wales, 

 measures: — Length (A) 1-07 x o-g inches ; (B) 1-07 x o-gi inches; (C) 1-07 x o-g inches; (D) 

 I'oy X 0*92 inches. A set of five taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard at Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, 

 on the 5th October, 1908, measure: — Length (A) o-g7 x 0-87 inches; (B) 0-97 x o-88 inches; 

 (C) 0-98 X 0-85 inches; (0)0-98 x 0-87 inches ; (E) 0.97 x 0-87 inches. A set of four taken 

 by Mr. Barnard in the same locality, on the nth October, igoS, measure: — Length (A) 1-07 x 

 o"88 inches; (B) i-i x 0-9 inches ; (C) I'og x o'g3 inches; (D) 1-05 x o-gi inches. 



Young birds resemble the adults, but are very much duller in colour, the centres of the 

 feathers on the crown of the head are blackish, and their margins pale brown ; the upper wing- 

 coverts and scapulars are dull blue, and broadly margined at the tips with very dull rust-red; 

 there is also a rusty wash to the white feathers of the broad collar on the hind neck ; the under 

 parts are dull white, with narrow indistinct dusky fringes to the feathers on the fore neck ; the 

 remainder of the under surface is tinged with rusty-buff, which is more distinct on the lower sides 

 of the body and the under tail-coverts. Wing 3-75 inches. 



October and the three following months constituted tlie usual breeding season in Eastern 

 Australia. 



Halcyon sanctus. 



SACRED KINGFISHER. 

 Halcyon sanctus, Yig. and Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 206 (1826); Gould, Bds. Austr., 

 fol. Vol. II., pi. 21 (1848); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XVII., p. 267 (1892); id., 

 Hand-1. Bds., Vol. II., p. 60 (1900). 



Adult male — Crown of the head and nape greenish-Jdue, on the latter a more or less ivell concealed 

 white spot; brighter blue on the upper and posterior portion of the eye and sides of the nape: mantle 

 and scapulars greenish-blue; back and rump blue, becoming slightly brighter on the upper tail-coverts; 

 lesser wing-coverts greenish-blue, the remainder of the wing blue, blackish on the inner webs of all the quills, 

 also on 'the apical portion of the outer primaries ; tail blue; a supraloral streak rich ochreous-buff ; lores, 

 a narrow line of feathers around the eye, fore-part of cheeks, the ear-coverts and a line of feathers 

 encircling the nape black, the ear-coverts washed tvith dull greenish -blue ; chin and throat whitish, 



