152 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



on the trunk of a very large tree; here 

 they had made their home in an old 

 nest, perhaps their nest of last year. 

 The tunnel is a little over two inches 

 in diameter, and extends inwards for 

 about 8 inches. On flashing an electne 

 torch I was enabled to see three young 

 birds; they were very crowded and one 

 seemed to be living on top of the other 

 two. Their eyes were mere slits, but 

 their mouths were cavernous, and, when 

 I imitated the call of the parent bird, 

 they would open their beaks as if to 

 swallow me and would squeak with all 

 their might in an endeavour to tell the 

 mother that they were very hungry and 

 wanted more. The bluish-green (juills 

 were just beginning to show through 

 laj'ge patches of bare skin. Again, as 

 on the previous occasion, the parent 

 birds kept a very long way off and 

 Avatched me from the top of a tree. 



The nest of the Sacred Kingfisher is 

 often made m a "nigger's head" white 

 ant's nest in gum trees, or else a hole 

 is drilled in an old decayed stump. The 

 eggs may be four or five in number and 

 are laid in cavities in the sid^ ot the 

 tunnel; they are almost round and are 

 pure white. 



This bird is a very well known species 

 and its colour is greenish blue on the 

 back and wings and upper part of the 

 tail feathers. The head is greenish on 

 the fore part, but becomes more of a 

 blue colour on the nape. There is a 

 white or cream collar round the neck, 

 bordered by black. The under parts are 

 whitish, the breast feathers being tipped 

 with light brown, while the sides of the 

 abdomen are buff. The under side of 

 the tail feathers are grey. 



The food of the kingfisher consists 

 mainly of grubs, small lizards, moths 

 and other insects, and it very seldom 

 does any fishing. I have seen it 

 .sitting on the blanches of trees over- 

 hanging the Avater, but, when it darted 

 downwards, as I thought in search of a 

 .siliall fish, it almost invariably returned 

 to its vantage point with an insect in 

 its beak. One of the best fisherman of 

 this tribe is the little Azure Kingfisher 

 (Halcijon azurea), but, as this species 

 is very blue above and bright buff 



coloured underneath, with a tiny stump 

 of a tail, it could never be mistaken by 

 anyone for the Sacred Kingfisher. 



THE RED-WHISKERED BULBUL. 



Otncompsa emeria. 



The above name belongs to an Indian 

 bird which was introduced to Australia 

 a few years ago, and which is now firm- 

 ly established in and around the Syd- 

 ney district. There have been many en- 

 quiries at the Museum during the last 

 few months concerning the name and 

 previous home of this new bird. On 

 several occasions notes have appeared in 

 the "Emu," the official organ of the 

 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union, 

 under the heading of Otocompsa jocosa, 

 a scientific name synonymous with the 

 oldest and correct one 0. emeria. 



The figure accompanying this article 

 will give readers a very good idea as to 

 what the bird is like. In size it is al- 

 most as large as the crested bell bird 

 and the coach-whip bird, and, as all 

 three birds possess a crest, the bulbul, 

 at a casual glance, might easily be mis- 

 taken for either of these, but its colour 

 is as follows. Forehead, crown, head, 

 crest, front of cheeks and bill, black. A 

 narrow l)lack line joins the corner of 

 the mouth and extends to just above the 

 shoulder. The liinder parts of the 

 cheeks and the ear coverts are white, 

 and there is a small tuft of crimson 

 feathers immediately behind and joining 

 the lower part of the eye. Sides of 

 neck brownisli black, as is also a eres- 

 eentic band which passes over the shoul- 

 ders, but does not continue across the 

 chest, which is white; the abdomen is 

 white l)ut washed with brown. Upper 

 parts and wings brown, edge of wing 

 especially near the shoulder, pale pink. 



HOW IT CAME TO SYDNEY., 



Thruugii making enquiries I under- 

 stand tliat a pair of these, birds escaped 

 from the Sydney Botanic Gardens 

 ■about eight years ago, and the great 

 progress the species has made in est;ab- 

 lishing itself firmly in this country is 

 surprising indeed. Many reports as to 

 its presence have been sent in to the 

 Mnseum from various localities round 



