DESCRIPTION, DISTRIBUTION, TTABITS 



on tadpoles, aquatic insects, cuul small crabs. When disturbed 

 it flies swiftly over the water, often almost touchinii it. The 

 nest is a rounded chamber at the end of a tunnel 2 or 3 ft. deep, 

 made by the birds themselves in a bank. The hole runs slightly 

 upwards to prevent seepage of water into the nest chamber. 

 The eggs are 5 to 6 in number, glistening white and rounded ; 

 they are pinkish when fresh, owing to the yoke showing 

 through the thin shell ; size, 0.7$ by 0.60. 'Fhey breed in 

 September and October. 



Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Jlalcyo)! albiventris). (Vol. 



II., p. 49.) 



Description. — Male : head ashy, narrowly streaked with 

 dark brown. Whitish on the neck, the feathers of which are 

 also streaked. Quills of wings blue with black tips. Mantle 

 and wing coverts black. Primary C(n'erts blue tipped with 

 black. Back, rump, and tail cobalt-blue ; brightest on the 

 back and tail coverts. Chin and throat white. Lower breast 

 fulvous. Iris brown. Bill red, tipped with black. Legs dark 

 red. 



Lengthy 8.40 ; tail, 2.60 ; wing, 4.0. 



The mantle, wing coverts, and scapulars in the female are 

 brown, the crown is darker and more profusely streaked than 

 that of the male, and the bill is two-thirds black. 



Distribution. — 'From Swellendam in the Cape Province, 

 and eastwards to Natal, Zululand, and Transvaal. 



Habits. — The kingfishers of the genus Halcyon, commonly 

 known as bush kingfishers, differ in their habits from the other 

 genera of kingfishers. The latter feed chiefly on small fishes, 

 while the former subsist on insects, principally the ground 

 frequenting kinds, such as grasshoppers, worms, beetles, and 

 crickets. The brown-hooded kingfishers associate in pairs. 

 They may be met with in nearly all districts where scattered 

 bush prevails. They are partial to the trees along the margins 

 of streams, ponds, and dams, owing probably to the greater 



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