KINGFISHERS. 



109 



rufous, the upper tail-coverts being centred with 

 greenish ; wing greenish blue, brighter on shoulder and 

 outer webs of flights, blackish with white inner edges 

 on inner webs ; tail greenish blue with black shafts, 

 inner webs whitish towards distal extremities, outer 

 feather whitish externally; a white eyebrow-streak 

 from base of nostrils, becoming wider above ear-coverts 

 and encircling' the occiput below the long crest-feathers ; 

 a loral spot, feathers below eyes, and ear-coverts black, 

 joining a collar of the same hue round back of neck ; 

 behind the latter a broad white collar joining sides of 

 neck ; cheeks and under surface white faintly tinged 

 with buff ; bill black, base of lower mandible flesh- 

 white ; feet dark olive-brown ; irides blackish-brown. 

 Female not differentiated. Australia, excepting in the 

 west and south-west. 



Gould observes (" Handbook," Vol. I., pp. 130-132) : 

 " The only parts where I myself observed it were the 

 myall-brushes (Awla pendula) of the Lower Namoi, 

 particularly these growing on the edge of the large' 

 plain skirting the Nundawar range. It was usually 

 seen sitting very upright on the dead branches of the 

 myall and gum trees, sometimes on those growing out 

 on the hot plains, at ethers on those close by the river- 

 side. I succeeded in obtaining both old and young 

 birds, which, judging from the plumage of the latter, 

 I should suppose had left their breeding-place about a 

 month before I arrived in the neighbourhood of the 

 Namoi, in December." " The unusual colouring of the 

 back at once distinguishes it from all the other members 

 of the genus inhabiting Australia, but in its general 

 economy and mode of living it presents no observable 

 difference. 



" Two eggs in my collection are very round in form, 

 and of the usual white colour ; but they were doubtless 

 pinky white before they were blown. They are one inch 

 long by seven-eighths broad." 



Campbell (" Nests and Eggs," p. 557) describes the 

 nest and eggs as follows: -Next. Usually a hole in a 

 tree, but sometimes a tunnel drilled into the side of a 

 bank or dam. 



" Eggs. Clutch, four to five ; round in form ; tex- 

 ture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour pure white. 

 Dimensions in inches of a clutch : (1) 1.05 x -87, (2) 

 1.01 x -83, (3) 1.0 x -85, (4) .98 x .85." 



Mr. Seth-Smith (The Aviniltitral Magazine, Second 

 Series, Vol. VI., p. 186) mentions specimens of this 

 species as being in a consignment of birds imported 

 by Messrs. Payne and Wallace in 1908. 



SACRED KINGFISHER (Halcyon sanctus). 



Above variable blue-green, the back being greener 

 than the wings and tail ; inner webs of flights and 

 tail-feathers blackish towards edge ; a well-defined eye- 

 brow stripe buff in front, white at back ; lores, eyelid, 

 sides of face and ear-coverts black, continued by a 

 black band which encircles the nape ; above the latter 

 a white occipital spot ; a few black feathers in a line on 

 the cheeks, otherwise the latter, a broad collar round 

 the neck and the under-surface are buff, becoming 

 white on chin, throat, front of breast, and centre of 

 abdomen ; under wing-coverts and axillaries deeper 

 buff ; flights below dusky inclining to ashy along inner 

 web ; bill black, the basal half of lower mandible 

 fleshy-white ; feet fleshy-brown ; irides dark brown. 

 Female duller than the male, more olive above and on 

 the breast, which is of a pale brownish rather than 

 buffish tint, the feathers with dusky fringes as in the 

 young bird ; the bill slightly longer and more gradually 

 tapered than in the male. Hab., "Australia to New 



Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and New Hebrides, 

 throughout the Papuan Islands to the Moluccas, 

 Celebes, Lombpck, Java, and Sumatra." (Sharpe.) 

 Gould says ("Handbook," Vol I., pp. 128-130) : "It, 

 is a summer resident in New South Wales and through- 

 out the southern portion of the continent, retiring, 

 northwards after the breeding season. It begins to 

 disappear in December, and by the end of January 

 few are to be seen ; solitary individuals may, however, 

 be met with even in the depth of winter. They return 

 again in spring, commencing in August, and by the 

 middle of September are plentifully dispersed over all 

 parts of the country, inhabiting alike the most thickly 

 wooded brushes, the mangrove forests which border, in 

 many parts, the armlets of the sea, and the more open and 

 thinly-timbered plains of the interior, often in the most 

 dry and arid situations, far distant from water ; and it 

 would appear that, as is the case with many of the: 

 insectivorous birds of Australia, a supply of that 

 element is not essential to its existence, since, from the 

 localities it is often found breeding in, it must neces- 

 sarily pass long periods without being able to obtain it. 



" The gaiety of its plumage renders it a conspicuous 

 object in the bush; its loud, piercing call, also, often 

 betrays_its presence, particularly during the season of 

 incubation, when the bird becomes more and more 

 clamorous as the tree in which its eggs are deposited 

 is approached by the intruder. The note mcst fre- 

 quently uttered is a loud pee-pee, continued at times to< 

 a great length, resembling a cry of distress. It sits very 

 upright, generally perching on a small dead branch for 

 hours together, merely flying down to capture its prey,, 

 and in most instances returning again to the site it 

 has just left. Its food is of a very mixed character, 

 and varies with the nature of the localities it inhabits. 

 It greedily devours mantes, grasshoppers, caterpillars, 

 lizards, and very small snakes, all of which are swal- 

 lowed whole, the latter being killed by beating their 

 heads against a stone or other hard substance, after 

 the manner of the Common Kingfisher. Specimens- 

 killed in the neighbourhood of salt-marshes had their 

 stomachs literally crammed with crabs and other 

 crustaceous animals; while intent on the capture of 

 which it may be observed sitting silently on the low 

 mangrove bushes skirting the pools, which every recedino- 

 tide leaves either dry or with a surface of wet mud upon 

 which crabs are to be found in abundance. I have 

 never seen it plunge into the water after fish like the 

 true Kingfishers, and I believe it never resorts to that 

 mode of obtaining its prey. On the banks of the 

 Hunter its most favourite food is the larva of a species 

 t ant, which it procures by excavating holes in the 

 nests of this insect which are constructed around the 

 boles and dead branches of the Eucalypti, and which 

 resemble excrescences of the tree itself. 



"The season of nidification commences in October 

 and lasts till December, the hollow spouts of the gum 

 and boles of the apple trees (An.fjophorca) being generally 

 selected as a receptacle for the eggs, which are four 

 or five in number, of a pinky-white, one inch and a line- 

 in length, and ten lines in diameter." 



The first example of this Kingfisher reached the London 

 Zoological Gardens in 1868, but the species is not fre- 

 quently imported. My friend Mr. D. Seth-Smith se- 

 cured two specimens in 1899, and in the following year 

 he published an account of them, illustrated by a 

 clever coloured plate, drawn by himself (The 4vi- 

 mltnral Magazine, First Series, Vol. VI pp 117-119) 

 He says that "the ordinary note of this 'species is 

 peculiar, and somewhat difficult to describe, sounding- 

 something like cmo, cuio, but it not infrequently utters- 



