BIRDS IN SINGAPORE. 17 
some cry of “ Tock-Tock-Tock,” sounding like the skimming of a 
stone across the ice. It is called by the Malays the “ Burong 
Tukang Kayu,” or ‘“‘ Carpenter bird,” from its cry, and also ‘‘Bur- 
ong Malas,” the lazy bird, because, like the English Night-jar, it 
makes no nest, merely laying its ergs on the ground beneath a bush. 
It much resembles the Enelish bird not only in appearance, but 
in its habit of suddenly sitting down on the ground, often in the 
middle of the road, in front of the horse when cne is driving, 
suddenly rising and flying a few yards and sitting again till 
one comes up with it. During the day it hides on the ground 
in the bushes or fern, coming out at dusk, and taking up its 
position on the topmost twig of a small tree utters its cry for 
hours together, every now and then darting off in pursuit of a 
beetle or moth. Certain boughs are evidently very popular, and 
if the owner of the position is shot another night-jar quickly 
takes its place. Besides the regular cry it sometimes gives a 
kind of chuckle, and at times a hoarse whirring like that of the 
English night-jar beginning with a kind of croak. It sometimes 
breeds in the gardens, but in June, the usual breeding season, 
most of the birds leave the gardens and one does not see or 
hear anything of them for some time. 
We are too far off the big jungles for the veautiful Lyn- 
cornis Temmincki, the “Tiptibau” of the Malays, but this bird is 
very common in many parts of Singapore, flying swiftly at night 
and uttering its plaintive cry, “Whit wht hoo,” whence it takes 
its Malay name. 
Kingfishers of four kinds inhabit the gardens, usually near the 
lakes. Of these Alcedo ispida is perhaps the commonest, a bird 
closely resembling the English Kingfisher but duller in colour. 
The brilliant little deep blue A. meninting is often to be seen 
perched on a bamboo shoot and darting into the water after fish ; 
while the two larger kinds Halcyon smyrnensis, a light blue bird 
with a large red beak, and /1/. pileata, a brilliant deep blue bird 
with a white breast, seem to be less attached to the water, and 
are often to be seen at some distance from it. The Malays call 
the kingfishers “ Raja hudang,” literally ‘King of the prawns.” 
The common bee-eater, (Merops sumatranus), may almost be 
classed as a migrant, appearing at times most abundantly and 
then disappearing for months. It is called ‘“‘Berik-Berik” by the 
Malays, who believe that it flies on its back in the evening. It 
