M'llLLOR Khujjis/irr Encnuntrrs Snahc. 15 



pleasuie ihat I received a copy of your address on "Kenamiu^ 

 Australian l>irds'. 1 quite think, with you, that Mr. 

 H()-and-S() is pushinj^- the priority rule to an extent that is 

 cansin.u- confusion in the nomenclature of our birds, and 1 

 iniaLrine that the makers of the rule never contemplated that 

 it would be jnrshed t(> such extremes." That, sirs, is the sum 

 and substance of the whole matter. ''T/ie makers of the rule 

 (The Law of Triority), never contemplated that it tvould he pushed 

 to sitrh r.r/;r///c.y." Therefore, before our next ''Check List" is 

 completed let us seek an amelioration of that overbearing and 

 mischievous rule. 



I am, etc., 



A. J. CAMPBELL. 

 Surrev Hills, Victoria. 28th November, 1918. 



Kingfisher Encounters a Snake. 



A remarkable encounter between a Sacred Kingtisher 

 {Halcyon sanctus), and a large brown snake was witnessed by 

 Mr. W. J. Dixon, of Fulham, S.A.,- recently, near his house 

 on the baidv of the liiver Torrens. The bird had 

 made its nest in the usual burrow-like hole in the 

 hank of the stream, some distance from (he water 

 belo\\-, and the snake wishing to get at i1 glided 

 stealthily uj) the bank, all the time closely \vatche<l 

 toy the agitated bird, which allowed the reptile to get to a 

 place in the bank that was steeper than elsewhere, when it 

 darted with arrow-like swiftness, and a well-directed blow 

 from the long i>ointed bill on the reptile's head sent it rolling 

 down the bank into the water.. Nothing daunted, and. 

 like the spider and the monarch of old, the snake after 

 a brief interval was induced to 'try again', and up the bank 

 it glided, but at the same steep part, the kingfisher darted at 

 its adversary's head again, and it rolled down into the water 

 once more, to repeat the performance yet a third time with 

 exactly the same result. Then the snake gave it u]), 

 glided away into some thick bushes and disappeared, and the 

 Httle bird was left monarch of all he surveyed, and its nest 

 was unmolested. The instinct of the Uingtisher iu attacking 

 its adversary each time at the one place where the stee])ness 

 gave the little bird an advantage that it could never have 

 gained at any other s])ot on the bank was reuiarkable, and is 

 another instance of the almost human thinking power of our 

 feathered friends. 

 "Mellor Park", JOHN W. MELLOR, 



Lockleys, S.A. 10/11/18. 



