1875. ] MR. E, L, LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. 427 
Cucu.us 1nruscatus, Hartl.; F. & H. op. cit. p. 31. 
A single specimen of this sombre-coloured Cuckoo was shot on 
“« Brewer's Rock,”’ a large mass of pudding-stone at the back of my 
residence, in the month of February. Mr. Kleinsmidt captured a 
specimen in his garden in January. 
Both these Cuckoos are migratory, arriving in these islands at the 
end of the year. They are considered very rare; but I suspect this 
is owing to their retiring habits, and their frequenting the depth of 
the forest. 
EvupyNAMIS TAITIENSIS (Sparrm.). 
Non vidi. 
CHALCITES, sp. inc. 
Mr. Henry Thurston, a gentleman who has devoted some atten- 
tion to birds both in Australia and Fiji, assures me that he has shot 
the little “‘ Bronze Cuckoo”? of Australia on Taviuni. He knows 
the species well, having skinned many of them. 
Hatcyon sacra (Gmel.); F. & H. op. cit. p. 32. 
This Kingfisher is one of the commonest birds in Fiji, being found 
along the whole seaboard, and inland up the rivers. It feeds on 
crabs, fish, lizards, locusts; in fact, few living things that can go 
down its throat are rejected. It perches equally on the stones left 
bare by the retreating tide, and on the topmost branches of the 
tallest forest-trees. I have often, when in the latter situation, mis- 
taken its cries for those of Astur cruentus on the wing. The natives 
call it ‘“‘ Sé-sé,”’ and declare that it builds in ants’ nests on the trees, 
laying four to six eggs (pure white, axis 1” 1'", diam. 1"), chiefly in 
November and December. The white ants of this country construct 
nests in hollow trees; and it is in these scooped out that these birds 
are said to breed. Kleinsmidt says in Ovalau it is called ‘* N’lé-sé.” 
_ Hatcyon cassint, F. & H. op. cit. p. 40. 
I obtained a single specimen of this Kinghunter on the Waimanu 
branch of the Rewa. It was on a tree in the forest at the back of 
Mr, Thomas’s plantation. 
CaPRIMULGUS, sp. inc. 
I have been assured by the natives on Koro that a bird exists on 
their island “which has the power in the evening of turning itself 
into a stone, and lying in the footpath till-you almost tread upon it, 
when it flies up into your face. It has large eyes and a huge 
mouth, for the purpose of catching the rats on which it feeds.” 
Divest this of the miraculous and the misconception as to the use of 
the “huge mouth,” and you clearly have a Goatsucker indicated. 
I asked if they knew the Owl. “Yes; they knew that bird, but it 
was not that.” 
