PELAKGOPSIS. 11 



Mr. J. Inglis remarks from Cactar ; — " The Pied Kingfisher is 

 very common throughout the district ; it always fishes on the 

 wing. It breeds here about March." 



Mr. Gates, writing from Pegu, tells us : — " In Lower Pegu eggs 

 may be taken during the latter half of October and first half of 

 November. Eggs generally five." 



The eggs are typically very broad ovals, at times nearly spheri- 

 cal ; not unfrequently, however, they are curiously pointed towards 

 one end. 



When blown they are a pure china-\ihite and have a high gloss. 



In length they vary from 1-12 to 1-2,5 inch, .and in breadth 

 from 0-9 to 1 inch, hxit they .average about 1-lS by 0-04 ini'h. 



Pelargopsis gurial (Pears.). The Indian Storh-bUleil Kimifialier. 



Halcyon leueocephalus (Gmel), Ji-f<l. B. Ind. i, p. 2i;2. 

 Pelargopsis gurial (Pears.), Hume, Unvgh Draft X i.^- E. no. 127. 



Mr. E. Thompson says that this species, the Indian Stork-billed 

 Kingfisher, breeds from April to June, laying in a deep hole 

 excavated by the birds in banks of streams and rivers. He adds ; — 

 " I found in May 1867 a nest containing five young ones. Near 

 the inhabited nest were seven others, all deserted, and from the 

 debris and marks left each evidently had served its turn as a 

 breeding-place and had been discarded for a fresh one the following 

 year. Pound on all minor clear running streams of the Lower 

 Himalayas." 



Mr. W. Theobald makes the following remarks on the breeding 

 of this bird in Monghyr: — "Lays in the fourth week of .lune. 

 Eggs four in number, round, with some minor combinations ; size 

 1-09 by 1'02 inch ; colour pure white ; gaUery, 1 foot in depth, 

 in a steep bank, in jungle." 



Mr. J. E. Cripps writes from Assam :—" April 27th, 1880. 

 Borbam Tea-garden, Dibrughur. Found four fresh eggs. On the 

 borders of the tea-cultivation and alongside of heavy forest, a large 

 dead tree had been blown down amongst the tea-bushes ; there was 

 a deal of earth clinging to the roots of this tree, and in this earth a 

 hole had been excavated by the birds. The tunnel was 18 inches 

 in length by 3 inches in height, and .'ij in breadth. The egg- 

 chamber was slightly larger than the passage leading to it. Under 

 the eggs were pieces of fish-bones, crab-shells, and the wings and 

 heads of some kinds of hard-shelled insects. No river or tank was 

 within half a mile of the place. On the 22nd August last, I saw 

 another of these birds fly, with a fish in its mouth, into a hole in a 

 dead and rotten chumpa tree, about 15 feet off the ground. This 

 tree was about 100 yards from the one above mentioned and was 

 in the garden. I had it cut down, but the wood was so decayed 

 that the trunk went to shivers, destro3'ingthe young and all chance 

 of measuring &c. the hole." These four eggs mcasuiv I'LS by 

 I'OO, 1-10 by 0-99, 1-21 by 1-OS, and 1-2 by 1-08. 



