58 Mr. P. W. JNIunii on the Birds 



on the floor, and two young birds and one bad q^^ were in 

 the nest; the Larger of the two (fig. 2, p. 57) was half-grown 

 and half as large again as the other ; and they were both 

 covered Avith large quills, none of which had yet burst. A.t 

 the tip of the beak of the young bird was a small hooked 

 knob, not found in the adult, and at the back of the heel 

 a curious warty pad ■^. 



The old birds were extremely solicitous for their young, 

 and on their crying they flew round and perched close by. 

 Later, on September 13, this nesting-hole was again occupied, 

 and I caught the old bird in the hole, with two blind, un- 

 fledged young, about a week old, and two bad eggs. 



74. Pelargopsis amauropteha (Pears.), Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 x\\\. p. 97. 



One was shot at Khardah during the cold season of 

 1889-90, the only one I have ever seen in this district, 



75. Halcyon smyrnensis. (White-breasted Kingfisher.) 

 Common, generally distributed, and resident. This species 



is frequently found at a distance from water, as it does not 

 subsist entirely on fishes, but appears to feed chiefly on 

 lizards, beetles, and large insects. They inhabit any sort 

 of country, either open or covered with jungle. The greater 

 number in this district breed in IMay, making their nesting- 

 holes usually in the embankments surrounding the orchards 

 and gardens, also in bunds dividing the fields, or in pits ; but 

 they invariably select some cool shady j)art of the embank- 

 ment to breed in. The holes are about 2^ inches in 

 diameter and 18 inches or two feet deep, with a chamber at 

 the end, where the eggs are laid, on the l)are earth, with 

 perhaps a few fish-bones or wing-cases of insects. 



During the breeding-season they are very noisy, con- 

 tinually calling to each other, but they are very shy and 

 wary near their nests, and it is but seldom that the bird is 

 seen to fly in or out of the nesting-hole. 



Four or five eggs are laid. 



* [See Giintlier, Ibis, 1890, p. 411, for description of a similar heel-pad 

 on the foot of the Wryneck (lynx torquilla). — Ed.] 



