364 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, X1iT. 
reached two and a half feet below ground without, however, finding any sign 
of Her Majesty. We passed a large number of nurseries, and close to some 
of these turned out several young queens or kings, these wore a creamy- 
white costume, and had very small non-perfected wings on the back. As the 
morning by this time had become very hot, I decided to defer further work 
till next day, covering over what I had already done with matting, Next 
morning I found all the exposed combs of the nurseries under the matting 
had been covered over with fresh earth by the Termites, I started work on 
the opposite side of the cone, which, as this proceeded, became gradually 
demolished ; at last, when digging some two feet below the surface of the 
ground, and immediately adjoiming a large nursery, we came on the long 
looked-for White Queen in her small room, No king could be found, but Her 
Majesty was surrounded by a large number of subjects, mostly workers. 
She had quite a bright and happy expression, Her body was of enormous 
size, and appeared in a constant movement of expansion and contraction, 
After a little while I had Her Majesty carefully put back in her apart- 
ment, and again covered all over with matting, On the following morning 
I found the Queen’s room was completely roofed over and not one of her 
people to be seen, Ihad the two trenches filled in, as my friend is very 
particular as to the appearance of his compound, and finally left Her Majesty 
with her most faithful and ever attentive subjectsin peace. From what I 
saw throughout this experiment in termite house-breaking, the great mass of 
the nurseries would appear to be under the level of the ground covered by 
the cone ; and except for narrow passages here and there, there were no large 
empty halls in this particular house, either as air reservoirs or Gymkhana 
Clubs, I regret to add that one of my attendants showed no respect or 
reverence towards the White Queen, but coolly remarked that the “ Ranee” was 
often “eaten” by natives as a strengthening tonic. 
G. S$. RODON, Masor, 
Dharwar, April, 1900. : 
No, IIJ—THE WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER 
(HALCYON SMYRNENSIS) IN CAPTIVITY. 
Although in no part of the world can the Kingfisher be said to be a com- 
mon cage-bird, on account of the difficulty in catering for its appetite, yet 
anyone who really values gorgeous colours in a bird can, with very little 
more trouble than is ordinarily bestowed upon an insectivorous bird, keep 
the Kingfisher in perfect health and plumage. 
The first two White-breasted Kingfishers which I reared were fed entirely 
upon pieces of fish, cut up to about half the size of a hazel-nut ; also, on smalt 
whole fish, when procurable, alive or dead. These birds were procured when 
just ready to leave the nest, and kept in good health for four months, when 
I presented them to the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, That was in 1897, 
and they were the first specimens the Zoological Gardens had ever had, 
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