CEYX. 13 



They measure 1-16 x 1-0, 1-13 x 0-99, 1-2 x 0-98. They are 

 too small for Coracias indica, and a fortiori for Eunjstomus orientalis, 

 but I have not a sufficient series of eggs of C. affinis to assert that 

 they might not have belonged to that species. But then C. affinis 

 no more builds a nest such as Major Bingham describes, than do 

 the ordinary run of Kingfishers. Again, Nyctiornis athertoni, the 

 only other bird that I know that occurs in this locality, that could 

 I should have thought possibly have laid these eggs, also breeds in 

 holes in trees. 



They are not pigeons' or doves' eggs that is certain ; they 

 belong to the bee-eater, roller, or kingfisher groups, and, incredible 

 as it may at first sight appear, I incline to believe that the eggs 

 really are those of P. bunnanica. No doubt some birds do at times 

 go and sit upon other birds' nests, which they find unprotected 

 by the real owners, but I never heard of a Kingfisher doing this, 

 and Major Bingham could not have been mistaken in the birds, 

 which he knows well. 



The circumstance borders on the marvellous, but I think it 

 cannot be rejected. 



Major Bingham subsequently found the nest of this Kingfisher 

 in holes of banks. He says : " It breeds in the Thoungyeen in 

 the latter end of February, in March, and in the beginning of 

 April, commencing and finishing the digging of its nest-hole long 

 before the eggs are laid. 



" On the 23rd March, being encamped just on the bank of the 

 Meplay close to its mouth, I noticed, while seated outside my tent 

 in the afternoon, a pair of these birds going in and out of a hole 

 in the bank opposite. On inspecting it closer, it proved to be the 

 opening to a tunnel 1J inch in diameter, and going in for fully 

 five feet, where it ended in a rounded chamber, somewhat larger 

 than the passage, in which lay four roundish glossy white eggs. 

 There was no lining of any kind, the eggs reposing on the bare 

 ground. 



" They measure respectively 1-19 by 1-05, 1-17 by 1-03, 1-18 

 by 1-08, and 1-15 by 1-03." 



The eggs are of the usual type, small perhaps for the size of the 

 bird, being little if anything larger than those of Halcyon smyr- 

 nensis, very broad ovals, in some specimens quite spherical, puer 

 white and very glossy. 



Subfamily DACELONIN.E. 



Ceyx tridactyla (Pall.). The Three-toed Kingfisher. 

 Ceyx tridactyla (Pall), Jerd. B. 2nd. i, p. 229 ; Hume, Cat. no. 133. 



"Writing from north-west Ceylon Mr. H. Parker says : " It 

 should be noted that the eggs of this bird are quite unlike those of 

 other Kingfishers. They have well-marked small ends and are 

 also somewhat pointed at the other end. The shells are of very 



