338 AVES SUB-ORDER HALCYONES. 



friend the Laughing Jackass,' or an epithet of a less friendly char- 

 acter. So remarkable are the sounds emitted by the bird that they have 

 been noted by nearly every writer on New South Wales and its productions. 

 Mr. Caley states that its ' loud noise, somewhat like laughing, may be 

 heard at a considerable distance, fr >m which circumstance, and its 

 uncouth appearance, it probably received the extraordinary appellation 

 given to it by the settlers on their first arrival in the colony.' Captain 

 Sturt says, * Its cry, which resembles a chorus of wild spirits, is apt 

 to startle the traveller who may be in jeopardy, as if laughing and mocking 

 at his misfortune;' and Mr. Bennett, in his 'Wanderings,' says, 'Its 

 peculiar gurgling laugh, commencing in a low, and gradually rising to 

 a high and loud tone, is often heard in all parts of the colony, the 

 deafening noise being poured forth while the bird remains perched upon 

 a neighbouring tree ; it rises with the dawn, when the woods re-echo with 

 its gurgling laugh ; at sunset it is again heard ; and as that glorious 

 orb sinks in the west, a last "good-night" is given in its peculiar tones 

 to all within hearing.' It frequents every variety of situation the 

 luxuriant brushes along the coast, the more thinly-timbered forest, the 

 belts of trees studding the parched plains, and the brushes of the 

 higher ranges being alike favoured with its presence ; over all these 

 localities it is rather thinly dispersed, being nowhere very numerous. 

 Its food, which is of a mixed character, consists exclusively of animal 

 substances ; reptiles, insects, and crabs, however, appear to be its favourite 

 diet ; it devours lizards with avidity, and it is not an unfrequent sight to 

 see it bearing off a snake in its bill to be eaten at leisure ; it also preys 

 upon small mammalia. I recollect shooting a Great Brown Kingfisher in 

 South Australia in order to secure a fine rat I saw hanging from its bill, and 

 which proved to be a rare species. The Dacelo gigas breeds during the 

 months of August and September, generally selects a hole in a large gum- 

 tree for the purpose, and deposits its beautiful pearl-white eggs, which are 

 one inch and nine lines long by one inch and five lines broad, on the 

 decomposed wood at the bottom. When the young are hatched, it defends 

 its breeding- place with great courage and daring, darting down upon any 

 intruder who may attempt to ascend the tree." 



The large genus Halcyon contains more than fifty species, which are found 

 over Africa, India, and China, to Japan, and thence south to Australia, and 

 over the greater number of the Pacific Islands. They are mostly insect- 

 eaters, and are often found far away from water. The last genus of the 

 Kingfishers is Tanysiptera, which includes some elegant birds with only ten 

 tail-feathers, the middle ones being produced beyond the others, and 

 generally ending in a spatula or racket. These are birds of the Moluccas 

 and the Papuan Islands, one species, T. sylvia, being found in the Cape 

 York Peninsula of North-Eastern Australia. On the habits of this species a 

 short notice has been published by the late John Macgillivray, the original 

 discoverer of the species: "This pretty Tanysiptera is rather plentiful in 

 the neighbourhood of Cape York, where it frequents the dense brushes, and 

 is especially fond of resorting to the small sunny openings in the woods, 

 attracted probably by the greater abundance of insect food found in such 

 places than elsewhere. I never saw it on the ground, and usually was first 

 made aware of its presence by the glancing of its bright colours as it darted 

 p-ist with a rapid, arrow- like flight, and disappeared in an instant among the 

 dense foliage. Its cry, which may be represented by whee-whee whee and 



