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THE LAUGHING JACKASS. 



The cry of this bird is a singular, dissonant, abrupt laugh, even more 

 startling than that of the hysena, and raising strange panics in the 

 heart of the novice who first hears it while bivouacking in the " bush." 

 Being of a mightily inquisitive nature, the Laughing Jackass seems to 

 find great attraction in the glare of a fire, and in the evening is apt to 

 glide silently through the branches toward the blaze, and, perching 

 upon a neigliboriug bough, to pour forth its loud, yelling cry. The 



" old hands " are in no 

 wise disconcerted at the 

 sudden disturbance, but 

 shoot the intruder on 

 the spot, and in a very 

 few minutes convert him 

 into a savory broil over 

 the fire which he had 

 come to inspect. 



At the rising and the 

 setting of the sun the 

 Laughing Jackass be- 

 comes very lively, and 

 is the first to welcome 

 The Laughing Jackass {Dacelo gigas). ^he approach of dawE 



and to chant its strange exulting paeans at the return of darkness, 

 From this peculiarity it has been called the Settler's Clock. In allusion 

 to the cry of this bird, which has been compared by Sturt to the yelling 

 chorus of unquiet demons, the natives call it by the name Gogobera. 



The home of the Laughing Jackass is usually made in the hole of a 

 gum tree (Eucalyptus), where it makes no sort of nest, but simply lays 

 its eggs upon the soft decaying wood. The eggs are pearly white, and the 

 bird keeps a vigilant watch over the burrow which holds its treasures, 

 fiercely combating any creature that may approach the entrance, and aim- 

 ing the most desperate blows with its long, pointed, and powerful beak. 



It is a really handsome bird, and, although not possessing such an 

 array of brilliant plumage as falls to the lot of many Kingfishers, is yet 

 very richly colored. The bird is decorated with a dark brown crest, 

 and the general tint of the back and upper surface is olive brown. The 

 wings are brown-black, a few of the feathers being slightly tipped with 

 verditer, and the breast and under portions are white, washed with pale 

 brown, which forms a series of faint bars across the breast. The tail is 

 rather long, and rounded at the extremity, and is of a rich chestnut 

 color, banded with deep black and tipped with white. 



The common Kingfisher is by fi\r the most gorgeously-decorated 

 of all our indigenous birds, and can bear comparison with many of the 

 gayly-decorated inhabitants of tropical climates. 



