14 ALCEDINID.E. 



fine texture and are excessively fragile ; they have a decidedly pink 

 appearance before being prepared, and afterwards do not assume 

 the opaque white of other eggs. The bird breeds in dense forest 

 or jungle far from water, in the banks of dry streamlets, the 

 months being April, July, and August I believe, and probably also 

 May." 



A correspondent of the ' Asian/ apparently writing from the 

 north-east part of the Empire and signing himself " Rekab," says 

 of this species : 



" The eggs are laid in a hollow at the end of a burrow on a 

 nest formed of a few small fish-bones, one or two leaves, and 

 perhaps a scrap or two of moss. The chamber is rather larger 

 for the size of the bird, and the tunnel also is larger in pro- 

 portion than that made by other Kingfishers. It is wonderful 

 the rapidity with which this tiny bird makes its burrow, when the 

 soil is fairly soft and there are no pebbles to hinder it. I was 

 once a spectator on such an occasion, and, seated in a boat in the 

 middle of the river, I watched the pair of birds working for about 

 half an hour. When I first arrived about three inches of excavation 

 had been made, and the bird was able to throw out the sand behind 

 it as it proceeded with its work ; but, getting deeper in, it had, 

 every two or three minutes, to work its way out backwards, push- 

 ing the loose saud out behind it. Its action in digging and in 

 throwing out the sand behind it was exactly like that of a dog 

 burrowing, and the force used was very considerable, and until the 

 burrow was some six inches deep the sand flew out in a regular 

 shower. I did not see it use its bill except to loosen the soil, all 

 the removing being done by the feet. The birds relieved one 

 another every eight or ten minutes. 



" In the half-hour, or at the longest the forty minutes, that I 

 was present some ten inches of hole had been prepared, and when 

 1 returned a fortnight afterwards three eggs had already been 

 laid. 



" This was the only occasion on which I have known this bird 

 to select the bank of an open river for purposes of nidificatiou. 

 As a rule it breeds in nullahs or small streams running through 

 forest. 



" The eggs are four to six or even seven in number and pure 

 white. According to my experience they, though not pointed like 

 those taken by Mr. Parker in Ceylon, are less round than the eggs 

 of Alcedo ; they are, of course, very small. 



" This lively little bird frequents both forest-streams and nullahs, 

 and the larger and more open hill-rivers; but it generally forsakes 

 the latter entirely during the breeding-season, from May until 

 August. 



" It is not at all a shy bird, and will allow close, if quiet, obser- 

 vation ; but I have noticed little about it calling for particular 

 mention. As far as I have been able to ascertain, it is entirely a 

 fish-eater, though it may also devour water-insects, small prawns, 

 &c. I have never seen any remains of insects in its stomach. 



