HALCYON. 375 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter sends me the following 

 notes : — " Halcyon sanctus wa's only twice observed at Pt. Cloates, in the north-west, and on both 

 occasions in February in different years. Possibly the birds were migratory, as they were close 

 to the beach. It was common on the \'asse River and other parts of the south-west. About 

 Broome Hill they appear in the spring, and after rearing their young leave the district until the 

 following season. In 1905 the first bird was observed here on the 2nd October; and on the 22nd 

 January, 1906, a pair of old birds were feeding their fledged young with tadpoles, caught in a 

 stock tank ; on the 22nd February, 1906, a quite recently fledged bird was caught ; and on the 

 4th November, 1906, four fresh eggs were seen iu a nest." 



No species of Australian Kingfisher chooses more varied nesting sites than the present 

 species. The first nesting place I ever found was in a hole in the branch of a tree, in Albert 

 Park, near Melbourne. It was eighty feet from the ground, and the eggs, five in number, were 

 simply laid on the decaying wood and dust usually found in one of these cavities. All the nesting 

 places I found in Victoria, some as low down as six feet, were in similar situations, or in tree 

 stumps. In New South Wales I found but comparatively few in holes or hollow limbs of trees, 

 nearly all of the birds I found breeding forming a tunnel in a White Ant's nest, and laying the 

 eggs in an enlarged chamber at the terminus. Both sexes assist in the work of excavation, and 

 in some chambers I have found the eggs laid on a few small cast fish bones, or on the wing-cases of 

 beetles, less in quantity, but similar to that found in the egg chambers at the end of burrows of 

 Alcyone azurca. Gould remarks about Halcyon sanctus excavating holes in Termites' nests, on 

 trees, in search of and for food, but he was not apparently aware that these burrows were utilized 

 as nesting sites. At Dobroyde, Ashfield, where I used to live, and this species used to be 

 plentiful, I have seen very large nests of these Termites drilled in all directions, and in some 

 instances completely through the mound ; other nests have been so small and shallow, 

 standing out only a few inches from the trunk, that the birds soon reached the bark of the 

 tree, progress was stopped, and frequently the burrow was abandoned, but in several instances 

 the birds continued their excavating in a downward way close to the bark, and there 

 formed the chamber. As a rule the tunnel inclines upwards before entering the chamber. 

 On the 17th November, 1907, I observed a pair of these birds alternately relieving one another 

 in the labour of forming a tunnel in a Stag-horn fern, which was attached about ten feet 

 from the ground to the trunk of a tree, growing near one of the side entrances to Government 

 House, and leading into the Botanic Gardens, Brisbane. At Canterbury, near Sydney, I have 

 taken eggs from a tunnel in the ground, in the side of a grass-lined hole where a tree stump had 

 formerly been dug out. Mr. E. H. Lane also informs me that he has taken the eggs of this 

 species in a similar situation. .At Eastwood I saw a set of five fresh eggs that was taken by a 

 boy from a small hollow in the centre of a very thick ten feet sawn log, that had been lying on 

 the ground for some time, the female also being captured in this unusual nesting place. At 

 Narrabeen Mr. C. G. Johnston found five young ones in a burrow in a Termites' nest, which was 

 built around the top of a post of a rough three-railed fence, while at Roseville a pair of these 

 birds resorted for several years to a large Termites' nest at the top of one of the highest branches 

 of a large dead gum tree near one of the main thoroughfares, and fully one hundred and twenty 

 feet from the ground. 



The eggs are rounded oval in form, pure white, the shell being close-grained, smooth and usually 

 lustrous. A set of five taken at Canterbury, New South Wales, on the ist December, 1892, from a 

 tunnel in the side of a large hole in the ground, measures: — Length (A) 1-07 x 0-87 inches; 

 (B) 1-03 X 0-9 inches; (C) 1-05 x o-88 inches; (D) 1-03 x 0-91 inches; (E) 1-07 x 0-89 inches. 

 .\ set of five taken at Roseville out of a hollow branch of a tree, on the 3rd October, 1901, 

 measures: — Length (A) i-og x o-88 inches; (B) 1-07 x o-88 inches; (C) i-o6 x 0-9 inches; 

 (D) I -08 X 0-9 inches; (E) 1-05 x 0-89 inches. I have noted that as a rule eggs laid in a 

 Termites' nest often lose their lustre. 



