ALCEDO. 3 



small fish. I watched this procedure for about an hour and a half, 

 the same bird always going into the hole and coming out again 

 as soon as the other one gave her warning of his departure. No 

 doubt these precautions were adopted to prevent the hen bird 

 being surprised and captured in the hole whilst excavating. Oji 

 the 31st I returned to the spot about 9 a.m., and found the cock 

 bii'd on his usual perch guarding the nest. After waiting for about 

 a quarter of an hour, (he hen flew out of the nest-hole and took 

 possession of the vacant perch, and the cock flew away to some 

 swampy ground adjoining. In a few minutes the hen flew away 

 also, but soon returned again and commenced fishing in the water 

 below, and as she did not seem inclined to return to the nest I 

 t'ame to the conclusion that she had only goue on to the nest to 

 lay, and consequently I left the tank with the intention of returning 

 again in two or three days' time. On the 3rd September I re- 

 visited the place, and found the cock bird as usual on duty on his 

 perch, and after watching him for about twenty minutes he sud- 

 denly left his perch and entered the nest-hole, immediately after 

 which both birds came out of the hole together and flew to their 

 respective perches. The heia then left the tank, and the cock as 

 soon as she had gone re-entered the nest-hole. 



" Satisfied at last that the birds were sitting, and that the cock 

 had gone on to the nest to sit whilst the hen was away procuring 

 food, I walked quietly up to the bank and put a landing-net over 

 the hole, catching him as he flew out. I then waited for upwards 

 of an hour, intending to catch the hen also, but as she did not re- 

 turn, and as it was getting late in the day, I cut into the hole and 

 secured seven beautiful fresh eggs. The nest-hole, which was 

 about 3 feet above the level of the water, consisted of a narrow 

 passage about 2 inches in diameter running obliquely upwards into 

 the bank, and terminating about a foot from the entrance in a 

 large domed chamber some 5 or 6 inches in diameter. The eggs, 

 which were covered all over with the surrounding red soil from the 

 birds' feet, were almost spherical, and, when washed and blown, of 

 the purest white and very highly glossed, and deposited on the 

 bare ground, without even a depression to lie in and no signs 

 whatever of a nest. 



" I fancy the Eains is the season at which they breed in this 

 part of the country." 



He adds : — " Breeds in the Eastern Narra, Sind, in holes of 

 canal-banks. Mr. Doig took the eggs between 12th October and 

 2ad December." 



Mr. Davison says : — " I took the nest of this species at Ootaca- 

 mund in the last week of March. The nest was in a clay bank of 

 a stream about 5 feet above the surface of the water. The dia- 

 meter of the entrance of the tunnel was about 1'75 inch, and went 

 straight into the bank for about 2 feet, where it terminated in a 

 small chamber 4 inches in diameter, which contained four perfectly 

 fresh, almost round, very glossy, pinky-white eggs. There was no 

 attempt at a lining to the chamber beyond the few odd scraps of 



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