38 Mr. A. D. Millar 07i the 



Zululand, and I have likewise observed them inland from 

 Beira, but never more than a pair in the same locality, and 

 frequently they are found solitary. 



Their call, which can hardly be termed a song, is decidedly 

 melodious, and when the birds meet they have a peculiar mode 

 of greeting each other by alternately extending and uplifting 

 their wings with a lusty call resembling "• here we are ! '' " here 

 we are ! " several times repeated. 



Their diet is found principally in grasshoppers or locusts, 

 and they will remain on a dry twig or bough motionless for 

 half an hour or more watching intently for an opportunity 

 to pounce upon their prey, whilst sometimes I observed them 

 taking it on the wing, and at others picking it off the ground. 



As mentioned by Bohm, this Kingfisher has the most unusual 

 and extraordinary habit of nesting in trees, and not only, as 

 Bohm remarks, in the hole of a tree, but I believe more 

 frequently in the deserted nest-hole of a Barbet or Wood- 

 pecker, instead of selecting a bank which is the invariable 

 custom of all other members of the family. 



On the 23rd October, 1904, when at Tugela I noticed one 

 of these Kingfishers catch a locust on the wing, and after 

 killing it on the branch the bird flew to the hole of a Black- 

 collared Barbet (Lyhiiis torquatus) about 15 feet from the 

 ground, and out of this hole several bills of the young birds 

 immediately appeared on call, and ravenously devoured the 

 locust brought by the parent ; this procedure I closely observed 

 for a considerable time when both the cock and hen bird were 

 thus feeding their young. 



With the hope of procuring the eggs, on the 11th October, 

 1905, I again visited the locality, but soon found I was too 

 late. One of the birds, and shortly after the other, appeared 

 with food for their young. They had nested again in the 

 same tree — a large wild-fig close to the bank of the River 

 Tugela — in a similar Barbet's hole in a dead bough about 12 

 feet from the ground ; and here again I watched the feeding 

 process. The parent birds were constantly flying in and out 

 of the hole with grasshoppers, the little ones being too young 

 10 appear at the entrance, and when remaining perfectly 



