02 H.wf^, Food Pellets of Kingfishers. [,sfo"t. 



No. i), found on J. B. Sandiland's place, Roumalla, Uralla, is 

 5 feet in diameter and 2 to 3 inches in depth, and must have 

 taken months, perhaps years, to form. Others found have not 

 been quite so large, but were just as interesting. Photograph 

 No. 2 shows some fresh pellets before they have broken up with 

 the weather. Photograph No. 3 shows pellets composed mostly 

 of birds' bones, one bird's leg still being intact. Photograph 

 No. 4 is of some large bones picked up from, different mounds, 

 showing what large bones, &c., they can swallow. The Crow's 

 jaw in the centre, also pieces of rabbits' jaws and crayfish claws 

 still intact, are easily seen. Photograph No. 5 is sittings washed 

 from a couple of handfuls of pellets from the mound in photo- 

 graph No. I, showing the variety of contents. Photograph 

 No. 6 shows the Ume pellets (" crabs' eyes ") which are found in 

 the heads of " fresh- water ci-ayfish," first swallowed by the King- 

 fisher, then voided up in the food pellets, and afterwards picked 

 up on the mounds. I have picked up 70 of these on the one 

 mound, showing what great destroyers of "crayfish" these birds 

 are. Photograph No. 7 is a single pellet just breaking up ; it 

 contains the whole indigestible remains of a fizard, picked up on 

 the mound shown in photograph No. i.' Photograph No. 8 shows 

 some rabbit bones (chopped up) which I had fed to some birds 

 (tame, about the house), and later collected from the mound 

 over which they sleep. Photograph No. 9 contains pellets of 

 the Red-backed Kingfisher {Halcyon pyrrhopygius) and sonie 

 sittings washed from broken-up pellets, showing how similar, in 

 smaller form, the contents are to that of the Kookaburra {Dacelo 

 gigas). Gould hientions in his " Handbook on Austrahan Birds," 

 vol. i., page 140, concerning the Blue Kingfisher {Alcyone azurea), 

 that the hole occupied by this bird when nesting is often almost 

 filled up with the bones of small fish, which are discharged from 

 the throat, and piled up round the young in.j'the form of a nest. 

 I feel sure most of these bones are voided by the young, as the 

 Red-backed Kingfishers do, only the latter drop them out of the 

 nest at the entrance. Pellets shown in photograph No. 9 were 

 found there when the young were only two weeks old. Of course, 

 the old bird may drop some when sitting on the eggs. From this 

 it seems reasonable to suppose that all the Kingfisher family void 

 " food pellets," though as yet I have not found that the Sacred 

 Kingfisher {Halcyon sanctiis) does so. 



The Chestnut-shouldered Grass-Parrot near Sydney.— I am 



glad to be able to report the appearance of a small flock of 

 Chestnut-shouldered Grass-Parrots {Euphema pnlchella) in the 

 Camden district, near Sydney. The last bird of this species of 

 which I have record was offered for sale in Sydney about seven 

 years ago ; it had then been 22 years in an aviary. — A. S. 

 Le SouiiF. Taronga Park, Sydney, N.S.W., 8/9/20. 



