12 ALCEDIXIDJE. 



Herr Otto Moller, writing from Sikhim, says : " I have only 

 succeeded in getting two nests of this bird, which, however, is very 

 common in the Terai ; the first, containing 3 fresh eggs, was found 

 by my brother, Mr. F. A. Moller, in 1875 (no date). On the 5th 

 May, 1878, one of my coolies brought me ?> fresh eggs together 

 with the female bird, which he had dug out of the sandy bank of 

 a stream. As I had no time to skin the bird the same night, I put 

 her in a cage, where she during the night laid one egg more, which 

 unfortunately got broken by her flapping. I send you these three 

 eggs: the first three found measure T53 by 1*31, 1'50 by 1-26, and 

 1-52 by 1-28." 



Colonel Legge informs us that in Ceylon this species " breeds in 

 secluded spots, excavating a deep bole in the side of a river-bank 

 or in the bund of a tank beneath shady trees. The nesting-time 

 in Ceylon is during the first three or four months in the year." 



The eggs of this species sent by Herr Otto Moller are large and 

 very broad ovals, almost spherical but that towards one end they 

 are somewhat pinched out and have a tendency to form an obtuse 

 point there. The shell is pure white and has a considerable amount 

 of gloss, but seems from the specimens sent to have a tendency to 

 exhibit numerous small pimples or rugosities chiefly towards the 

 blunter or more obtuse end. 



The eggs of this species, like that of P. burmanica, appear to be 

 extremely small for the size of the bird, being in fact no larger 

 than those of Halcyon smyrnensis ; indeed, had I not received them 

 on good authority I should have hesitated to have accepted them 

 as belonging to this large species. Like the eggs of the rest of the 

 family, they are very round, pure white, and have a fine gloss. 



Pelargopsis burmanica, Sharpe. The Burmese Stork-bitted 



Kingfisher. 

 Pelargopsis burmanica, Sharpe, Hume, Cat. no. 127 his. 



Major C. T. Bingham writes from Tenasserim : " I am rather 

 diffident about writing a note on the finding of the eggs of this 

 bird, as they were found by myself personally in a made nest in 

 the fork of a bamboo growing near the bank of a choung, a thing 

 contrary to the habits of all Kingfishers. Moreover, though I fired 

 at the bird as she flew off the nest, I missed her. In my own mind 

 there is not a ghost of a doubt that the eggs in question belong to 

 the above species, as I had a close look at the bird, as she sat on 

 the nest, with a pair of binoculars, at not more than 15 yards 

 distance. The nest was, as I have already said, placed in the fork 

 of a bamboo near water. It was a loosely constructed shallow cup 

 of rough grass-roots, wholly unlined, at a height of about 4 feet 

 from the ground. The eggs, three in number, are broad ovals, 

 and glossy white in colour. They were found on the 10th April." 



The eggs are very round ovals, pure white and very glossy. 



