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Mrs. Katharine Currey,



in my possession more than a year. They seemed quite to'appre-

ciate their new quarters ; the female used to forage in the bamboo

jungle and bathe in the shallow pools, whilst the male, perched

in a quince tree, would fill the garden with the glory of his song.

It interested me to note that, whereas this Sprosser had previously

always sung in the early morning and never after midday, he

now sang a little in the morning, more in the late afternoon and

his very best in the evening, from 8 p.m. to io p.m.; in other

words, the very moment he found himself in a natural environ¬

ment he reverted to first principles to the traditional habits of

his race. In some notes which I wrote on the habits of D.

luscmia some time since, I suggested that the reason that this

species sings a good deal at night is because it is liveliest at that

time, and that the reason that a caged Nightingale sings by day

is because it is impossible for it to find much occupation at night

in a stuffy cage in a dark room. The above observation seems to

confirm this theory. I also stated that I believed that the Night¬

ingale did not sleep at all during the breeding season. This also

I have been able to some extent to confirm ; during this past

summer I have had a look at the Sprossers’ aviary on many

occasions and at every hour of the night and early morning and

have invariably found them awake and active.


( To be continuedJ.



LAUGHING KINGFISHERS.


Dacelo gigas.


By Katharine Currey.


I have to mourn the loss of a pet of nearly twenty years,

the cock of a pair of Laughing Kingfishers ‘Jack’ having survived

‘Jill,’ his mate, a few years.


He obviously died of old age, for he looked very decrepit

for some mouths before his end. For all the years I had the

pair, they never had an hour’s ill-health, and as they bathed

everyday, their plumage was most beautiful. Jack’s head and

neck were of a creamy-white, and from the back view had the

appearance of a full-bottomed wig. His crest, a rich dark-brown,

was only raised when he was intent on watching something.



