THE TERN ATE KINGFISHER. 
133 
On the banks of the Hunter River this Kingfisher resorts to a very curions method of 
obtaining food. There is a kind of ant which builds a mud nest upon the dead branches and 
stems of the gum-trees, and by the unpractised eye would be taken for fungi or natural excres- 
cences. The Kingfisher, however, knows better, and speedily demolishes the walls with his 
powerful beak, for the pur- 
pose of feeding upon the ants 
and their larvae. 
Like the preceding bird, 
the Australian Kingfisher is 
a most noisy creature, and 
remarkably fond of exercising 
its loud startling cry, which 
is said to resemble the shriek 
of a human being in distress, 
sharp, short, urgent, and fre- 
quently repeated. There is 
hardly any real nest of this 
species, which chooses a con- 
venient hollow branch or 
“spout” as its domicile, and 
there lays its eggs. They are 
generally from three to five 
in number, and are of a pure 
white. 
It is rather a fine bird, 
being nearly the same size as 
the laughing jackass. The 
top of its head and the back 
of the scapularies are tinged 
with a dull green, and the 
throat, neck, and abdomen 
are buff, abundantly flecked 
with brown spots. The wings 
and the tail are of a rather 
peculiar greenish blue, in which the latter hue prevails, and the ear-coverts and a line round 
the back of the head are blackish green. 
AUSTRALIAN KINGFISHER . — Halcyon sancta. 
The genus Tanyslptera is well illustrated by the well-known though somewhat scarce 
Ternate Kingfisher, a bird which maybe easily recognized by the peculiar form of the tail. 
The generic name is of Greek origin, and signifies Long- winged, and is rather longer than 
needful, the simpler form of the word being Tanyptera, or more properly Tanypteryx. But 
when once a systematic naturalist begins to indulge in so-called classical nomenclature, he 
seems to be irresistibly attracted by the words in proportion to their length and abstruseness. 
The Ternate Kingfisher is one of those species which are decorated with richly colored 
plumage, and is a truly handsome and striking bird. The head is of a bright ultramarine 
blue, and the upper parts of the body are of a deeper tint of the same color, being of a 
“Prussian” blue, that is almost black in its intensity. The wing-coverts are of the same 
ultramarine as the head, as are also the edges of the quill-feathers of the tail. The two central 
tail-feathers are much prolonged, considerably exceeding the others in length, and are very 
curiously shaped, being webbed at their bases, bare for nearly the whole of their length, and 
again webbed at the extremities. Their color throughout is blue, the tips being white, as are 
the remaining feathers of the tail with the exception of their blue edges. The whole of the 
under parts are white. 
The Ternate Kingfisher is a native of New Guinea, and from thence its skin has often been 
