380 DACELONIN*. 



enlarged chamber near the end, it sometimes resorts to a Termites' nest on the trunk or branch 

 of a tree some forty or fifty feet from the ground. 



The eggs are usually three, sometimes four in number for a sitting, almost globular in form, 

 pure white, the shell being close-grained, smooth and usually lustrous. A set of four taken by 

 Mr. Frank Hislop near Wyalla, on the Bloomfield River, on the 21st December, 1894, measures : — 

 Length (A) i x 0*92 inches ; (B) i'04 x 0-93 inches; (C) 1-04 x o-q inches ; (D) 1-03 x 0-9 

 inches. Two eggs of a set of four taken at Ripple Creek, Herbert River, measure: — Length (A) 

 I -09 X o-g inches; (B) i x o'86 inches. 



Young birds resemble the adults but are much duller in plumage; scapulars and feathers on 

 back black, the latter with indistinct dull blue tips, with an irregular-shaped ochreous patch in 

 the centre of the upper back; wings dull blue, blackish on the inner webs and tips of the quills, 

 with rich ochreous tips to the upper wing-coverts ; upper tail-coverts white edged with blue ; 

 all the under surface tawny-buff; whitish on the throat; the feathers on the breast with narrow 

 blackish edges. 



November and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season of the White- 

 tailed Kingfisher in North-eastern Australia. 



