76 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



cliiefly on fish and water insects, with an occasional shrimp or fresh-water prawn. 

 Its cry is a shrill, piping note, not unlike that of the common kingfisher, but shriller 

 and less powerful, and not apparently uttered except on the wing. It has a very 

 powerful flight, and is capable of great speed, darting along the stream like a ruby 

 meteor. Even when the bird is not disturbed, but is merely moving from place 

 to place, its flight is very swift. When it feeds, it returns again and again to the 

 same perch, and keeps to a confined area, being found day after day about the same 



LAUOuiNa KiMGFiSHEB (§ nat. size). 



spot, from which it seldom flies more than a mile. Mr. Baker has watched the 

 birds making their tunnel into a sandy bank, and believes that the earth is pecked 

 away by the bird's bill and the sand ejected by a backward motion of its feet. 



Laughing Inhabitants of Australia and the Papuan Islands, these birds are 



KingiiBhers. \^^\^ known by the laughing kingfisher {Dacelo gigantea), or laughing 



jackass, as it is termed by the Australian settlers, which is a large bird, measuring 



17 inches in total length, with a wing of 8^, and a tail of 6| inches. The general 



colour is brown, with the lower back greenish blue ; the median wing-coverts 



