BROWN KINGFISHER (LAUGHING JACKASS). 
generally beats them to a pulp before eating them. I have seen it beating 
lizards on stumps and once saw it do the same thing to a small brown snake. 
Small birds such as Acanihiza are often killed and eaten. It often kills birds for 
the sake of kiUing, as in the summer of 1906 a Jackass killed many English 
Thrushes in the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, by pouncing on them and 
wringing their necks, then leaving them dead. In this part we only see them 
in the winter, and I had written that ‘ the laughter is restricted to early 
morning and evening, never in the middle of the day unless it is raining,’ 
but this season this is not so, as I have heard them at all times of the day. 
During previous years I had never heard them do this.” 
Mr. James Scrymgeour, of Callendon Estate, South Queensland, notes : 
“Early in 1909 I saw two Jackasses attack and finally kill a carpet snake, 
8ft. llin. long. The male did most of the work, and his sharp beak kept 
at the one spot near the neck and behind the head, eventually severing the 
spinal- cord, the female attracting the snake’s attention.” 
A. G. Campbell wrote regarding North-eastern Victoria {Emu., Vol. II., p. 
16, 1902) : “ The Laughing Jackass {Dacelo gigas) is a useful member of the 
community, for, with the Magpie, it is often found about stackyards catching 
mice. Particularly during threshing and chaff-cutting the birds congregate, 
and, showing little fear of man, pounce down on the mice disturbed from cover. 
One Jackass met with an unfortunate reward, for it was found one day hanging 
from the top of a post, where its leg had been caught by loose wire, and some 
Magpies, following the strange but common plan in Nature, were endeavouring 
to end the poor bird’s life.” 
H. E. Hill, in the same volume (p. 162), adds : “ Very common, both 
on the plains and in the forest. We one day noticed a couple of Jackasses 
in a tree on the River St, George — an old bird and a young one. The old bird 
would give a few notes, and then the young one would try its hand, but it 
invariaby broke down after a couple of notes. The lesson went on for a 
considerable time.” 
Campbell, in his Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds (p. 552, 1901), amongst 
others has the following items : “It has been stated that the female only voices 
the laughter-like notes, while the male accompanies her with the gro\^ling 
noise. Is it a fact ? . . . I possess a pair of live Jackasses that was taken 
from a nest when the birds were about a month old. At the age of six weeks 
one endeavoured to laugh, and both could laugh loudly and lustily before they 
were three months old. . . Jackasses have been observed gathering mussels 
{Unio) at the edge of a creek, and whacking them against a log or limb 
endeavouring to open them ; they will also dive for small crayfish. Mr. C. 
H. McLennan tells me he has observed these birds perching on a limb just over 
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