158 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIKDS. 
then turn up on the mainland. Thus it would seem 
that the Andamans were originally stocked with a dark 
strain, or that the conditions of life there are easier for 
dark birds. It only needs the disappearance of the dark 
complexion among Indian specimens to establish the 
Andaman Kingfisher as a species, whereas now it has 
to rank as a variety only. 
The White-breasted Kingfisher breeds from March to 
July and differs from other Kingfishers in occasionally 
making a rough nest of moss. But the birds that do this 
must be constructive geniuses of an uncommon kind 
for the ordinary squalid burrow is good enough for most 
of them. When courting they lift up their tails and 
droop their wings, showing off the white patch. At this 
time, too, they fly wildly about, uttering a peculiar 
wailing cry, whereas in the ordinary way their flight is 
direct, and announced in a most business-like way by an 
abominably harsh cackle; for this Kingfisher seems to 
think that his movements are of importance in local 
feathered society, and always gives due warning when 
he is making a change of quarters. 
THE HOOPOES. 
The Hoopoes are a small family of birds widely dis- 
tributed over the Old World. They are all very much 
alike, having pale brown plumage with the wings and 
tail black-and-white, and their long thin bill and fan- 
like crest will always distinguish them from other birds, 
especially as the plumage does not differ with age and / 
sex. The crest is ordinarily kept folded down and then 
