16 ALCEDINLD.*:. 



" The eggs are laid in holes in the ground. All that I have 

 taken have been without exception out of the perpendicular banks 

 of the canal. The hole is about 3 inches in diameter at the orifice, 

 and generally slopes upward ; it seldom goes more than two and 

 a half feet into the bank, and often not more than 15 inches ; the 

 egg receptacle is merely a hollow in the earth where the hole 

 terminates, and has no lining of any description; it is about 9 

 inches wide. 



" The eggs, sometimes four, generally five, in number, are of a 

 shining polished white without spot." 



Writing from the Sauibhur Lake, Mr. R. M. Adam tells us : 

 "The White-breasted Kingfisher is very common, and breeds in 

 the banks of the open wells from March till June. On the 15th 

 April, I took a nest 4 feet below the ground-level, and 3 feet deep, 

 in which I found two fresh eggs. On the 13th June, I took 

 another nest in which I found five eggs, all hard-set ; the nest was 

 about 18 inches deep. On] the 27th June, I took a nest with 

 four fresh eggs. The unblown eggs were pinkish with whitish 

 streaks. In no case had the egg-cavity any lining." 



Captain Burgess records that " this Kingfisher is one of the 

 most common of its tribe in the Deccan, frequenting almost every 

 stream and nullah. It breeds during the month of May, in holes 

 of the banks of rivers, laying as many as seven eggs, of a beautiful 

 pinky tinge, owing to the colour of the yolk showing through the 

 thin delicate shell." From Ceylon Mr. Layard notes (but this, like 

 most of his notes on niclification, requires verification) " that the 

 nest of this species is found in decaying trees ; the parent bird 

 deposits two white eggs (axis 15 lines, diameter 13 lines), 

 beautifully smooth and shining. I have procured eggs in the north 

 of the island in December, in the south in April." 



Writing from Sind, Colonel Butler says : " Kurrachee, 7th 

 May, 1877. Pound a nest of the White-breasted Kingfisher 

 containing five fresh eggs. The nest consisted of a round hole 

 about 3^- or 4 inches in diameter, bored in the perpendicular bank 

 of a well about 10 feet from the level of the ground. The passage 

 was about 2 feet in length, and terminated in a small chamber in 

 which the eggs were deposited upon the bare ground. 



" During the last ten days of July 1878, two or three nests 

 were found by our men in holes in canal-banks in the E. Narra. 

 containing 4 or 5 fresh eggs each ; also other nests later on, in 

 August." 



Major C. T. Biugham remarks : " At Allahabad this bird was 

 decidedly rare. At Delhi it abounds, and there only I have taken 

 its nests, or rather eggs, for nests there are none." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing from the Deccau, 

 sav : Very abundant. Breeds in March and April." 



Mr. E. W. Bourdillon, writing from Travancore, says: 

 " Common among the small patches of paddy cultivation and on 

 the banks of the larger streams at the foot of the hills, but never 

 ascending to any height. The female lays from 4 to 6 round white 

 eggs, about the beginning of April, in a hole in a bank." 



