INSESSORES. 120 



timbered plains of the interior, often in the most dry and arid 

 situations far distant from water ; and it would appear that, 

 as is the case with many of the insectivorous birds of Aus- 

 tralia, a supply of that element is not essential to its exist- 

 ence, since, from the localities it is often found breeding in, it 

 must necessarily pass long periods without being able to 

 obtain it. 



The gaiety of its plumage renders it a conspicuous object in 



the bush : its loud piercing call, also, often betrays its presence, 



particularly during the season of incubation, when the bird 



becomes more and more clamorous as the tree in which its 



eggs are deposited is approached by the intruder. The 



note most frequently uttered is a loud pee-pee, continued at 



times to a great length, resembling a cry of distress. It sits 



very upright, generally perching on a small dead branch for 



hours together, merely flying down to capture its prey, and 



in most instances returning again to the site it has just 



left. Its food is of a very mixed character, and varies 



with the nature of the localities it inhabits. It greedily 



devours mantes, grasshoppers, caterpillars, lizards, and very 



small snakes, all of which are swallowed whole, the latter 



being killed by beating their heads against a stone or other 



hard substance, after the manner of the Common Kingfisher. 



Specimens killed in the neighbourhood of salt-marshes had 



their stomachs literally crammed with crabs and other crus- 



taceous animals ; while intent on the capture of which it 



may be observed sitting silently on the low mangrove-bushes 



skirting the pools which every receding tide leaves either dry 



or with a surface of wet mud, upon which crabs are to be 



found in abundance. I have never seen it plunge into the 



water after fish like the true Kingfishers, and I believe it 



never resorts to that mode of obtaining its prey. On the 



banks of the Hunter its most favourite food is the larvae of a 



species of ant, which it procures by excavating holes in the 



nests of this insect which are constructed around the boles 



