THE TERN ATE KINGFISHER. 



133 



On the banks of the Hunter River this Kingfisher resorts to a very curious method of 

 obtaining food. There is a kind of ant which builds a mud nest upon the dead branches and 

 stems of the gum-trees, and by the unpractised eye would be taken for fungi or natural excres- 

 cences. The Kingfisher, however, knows better, and speedily demolishes the walls with Ms 

 powerful beak, for the pur- 

 pose of feeding upon the ants 

 and their larvae. 



Like the preceding bird, 

 the Australian Kingfisher is 

 a most noisy creature, and 

 remarkably fond of exercising 

 its loud startling cry, which 

 is said to resemble the shriek 

 of a human being in distress, 

 sharp, short, urgent, and fre- 

 quently repeated. There is 

 hardly any real nest of this 

 species, which chooses a con- 

 venient hollow branch or 

 "spout" as its domicile, and 

 there lays its eggs. They are 

 generally from three to five 

 in number, and are of a pure 

 white. 



It is rather a fine bird, 

 being nearly the same size as 

 the laughing jackass. The 

 top of its head and the back 

 of the scapularies are tinged 

 with a dull green, and the 

 throat, neck, and abdomen 

 are buff, abundantly flecked 

 with brown spots. The wings 

 and the tail are of a rather 

 peculiar greenish blue, in which the latter hue prevails, and the ear-coverts and a line round 

 the back of the head are blackish green. 



THE genus Tanysiptera is well illustrated by the well-known though somewhat scarce 

 TERNATE KINGFISHER, a bird which may be easily recognized by the peculiar form of the tail. 

 The generic name is of Greek origin, and signifies Long- winged, and is rather longer than 

 needful, the simpler form of the word being Tanyptera, or more properly Tanypteryx. But 

 when once a systematic naturalist begins to indulge in so-called classical nomenclature, he 

 seems to be irresistibly attracted by the words in proportion to their length and abstruseness. 



The Ternate Kingfisher is one of those species which are decorated with richly colored 

 plumage, and is a truly handsome and striking bird. The head is of a bright ultramarine 

 blue, and the upper parts of the body are of a deeper tint of the same color, being of a 

 "Prussian" blue, that is almost black in its intensity. The wing-coverts are of the same 

 ultramarine as the head, as are also the edges of the quill-feathers of the tail. The two central 

 tail-feathers are much prolonged, considerably exceeding the others in length, and are very 

 curiously shaped, being webbed at their bases, bare for nearly the whole of their length, and 

 again webbed at the extremities. Their color throughout is blue, the tips being white, as are 

 the remaining feathers of the tail with the exception of their blue edges. The whole of the 

 under parts are white. 



The Ternate Kingfisher is a native of New Guinea, and from thence its skin has often been 



AUSTRALIAN KINGFISHER Halcyon sancta. 



