NOTES ON THE NESTING OF ALCYONE PULCHRA, 



GOULD. 



By a. J. North, F.L.S. 



In a collection of birds recently formed on behalf of the Trus- 

 tees of the Australian Museum, by Messrs, E. J. Cairn and Robt. 

 Grant, in the neighbourhood of Mt. Bellenden-Ker, Northern 

 Queensland, are two specimens of Alcyone pulchra. One of them 

 was obtained with great difficulty, on the Barron River, about 

 thirty miles inland from the coast, by Mr. Cairn, who, having 

 shot the bird, had to swim to procure it. The other was 

 captured on the nest by Mr. Grant. It is worthy of note that, 

 after comparing these birds with a large series of A. pulchra from 

 Cape York, Port Essington and Port Darwin, the flanks are not 

 tinged so deeply with rich lilac as in the specimens from the 

 extreme northern localities ; but are similar to others of the same 

 species procured by Mr. Cairn at Derby, North-western Australia 

 in 1886. 



Mr. Grant has kindly supplied me with the following information 

 relative to the taking of the nest. 



"On the 26th of December 1887, at Riverstone, about sixteen 

 miles inland from Cairns, in company with an aboriginal called 

 " Charlie " (native name Euryimba), I saw a Kingfisher fly into 

 a hole in the bank of a creek ; after running forward and placing 

 my hat over the entrance, I with my sheath-knife enlarged the 

 opening, and putting my hand in caught one of the parents ; 

 while engaged in securing it, my attention was drawn away from 

 the nest for a moment, when to my surprise another bird flew 



