EURYSTOMTJS AUSTRALIS. 



(Australian Boiler.) 



Crown of the head and cheeks, brown ; lores, dark brown ; back and scapularies, light greenish brown ; edge of shoulder, brown ; upper 

 portion of wings and upper tail coverts, shining bluish green, washed with brown ; greater coverts and tertiaries, bright bluish green ; feathers 

 of the spurious wing and secondaries, intense indigo blue on the outer webs, edged with lighter— the inner webs, blackish brown ; bases of 

 primaries, deep rich indigo blue. Commencing on the inner web of the first primary, and, extending across the next five, is a patch of light 

 shining whitish green, which on the fourth quill is 1^ inch in length. On the seventh quill is a small rudimentary patch of the same color. 

 The remaining portions of the primaries are blue, merging into black on the tips and inner webs ; base of tail, bright green, passing into 

 indigo and tipped with black ; throat, purplish blue ; chest, light green, washed with brown ; under surface of wing, abdomen, and ventral 

 coverts, light green, with a slight admixture of brown ; bill and feet, orange red — the upper mandible tipped with black. 



Length, 10^ inches ; wing, 7| ; tail, 4 ; bill, 1^ ; tarsus, f . 



This handsome bird is migratory in its habits, visiting the southern parts of Queensland, and also the colony of New South 

 Wales, in the spring, for the purpose of incubation, and retiring northward for the winter. It is to be met with most frequently early in the 

 morning and in the evening, being generally seen perched at a great height on the naked branch of a gum-tree, where it sits watching for its 

 insect food, which it captures for the most part upon the wing. Its flight is rather labored, and of an undulating character, at which time 

 the beautiful silvery blue patch upon the wing being opened to its full extent, shows conspicuously, and is supposed to have given rise to the 

 colonial name of the bird — " Dollar Bird," from the fancied resemblance in size and shape to that well-known coin. Its note is harsh and 

 guttural, and usually uttered when on the wing. The time of incubation is from the early part of September to the latter part of November, 

 and the eggs are deposited in the hole of a gum-tree ; they are three in number, pearly white, much pointed at the smaller end : size, 1 inch 

 5 lines by 1 inch 2 lines. 



