Birds of Melville Island. 113 



89. Alcyone azurea pulchra. Purple Kingfisher. 

 Alcyone pulchra Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1846, p. 19 : 



Port Essington. 



This bird seems common, and the first one was obtained 

 on the 26th of October on a freshwater creek. Others have 

 been seen in the mangrove-creeks. They nest on the fore- 

 shore on Apsley Straits, where the sea is washing away the 

 land ; here they find a convenient eastern bluff, iti which 

 the nesting-holes are visible. On the great swamp a few 

 were seen in the Paper-bark trees. They are resident 

 throughout the year. 



90. Micralcyone pusilla ramsayi. Northern Little King- 

 fisher. 



Alcyone ramsayi North, Ibis, 1912, p. 119: Port Essington. 

 Rare. 



91. Dacelo leacMi nana. Dwarf Fawn - breasted King- 

 fisher. 



Dacelo leachii nana Mathews, Austral Av. Rec. vol. i. 

 1912, p. 37 : Melville Island. 

 Common. 



92. Cyanalcyon macleayi distinguendus. Western Forest- 

 Kingfisher. 



Halcyon macleayi distinguendus Mathews, Nov. Zool. 

 vol. xviii. 1912, p. 288: South Alligator River, Northern 

 Territory. 



The nest was placed at the end of a tunnel in a small 

 termites' nest in the fork of a small wattle, about 15 feet 

 from the ground. The birds had scooped out the whole 

 interior of the structure. The eggs were placed on fine 

 fragments of the termites' nest. The entrance-hole was 

 about 2^ inches across and the nesting-chamber 8 inches by 

 8 by 5 high. 



Eggs. Clutch 5, white ; 24 mm. by 21. Date 9 Nov., 

 1911. 



SER. X. VOL. II. I 



