r 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
the river (Wimmera), and diving into shallow water after yabbies (small 
crayfish), sometimes going right under.” From dates recorded he also added ; 
“We may infer that from the time the female deposits her eggs till the young 
quit the nest is about six weeks.” 
Observations on the dates, etc., of incubation should be made. 
Berney’s note concerning the Richmond District, North Queensland 
{Emu, Vol. VI., p. 44, 1906) reads : “ The Laughing Jackass is an uncommon 
bird about this part of the river ; it is very seldom indeed that its jovial laugh 
may be heard. I have come across it, however, half a dozen times at the 
heads of the creeks that come down off the basalt table-land. This basalt wall, 
the western boundary of what is known as the basalt country, seems to bar 
the western extension of many coast birds ; it divides the forest country from 
the downs. Many species that I know are common up there are practically 
never seen down here, although the distance from here to the piled black volcanic 
boulders is only forty miles. Up the Flinders, fifty miles above Richmond, 
where the river and the basalt meet, I used to hear old gigas morning and 
evening — not regularly, but pretty frequently.” 
Macgillivray [Emu, Vol. XIII., p. 160, 1914) recorded : “ The smaller 
‘Laughing Jackass’ was found by Mr. McLennan to be fairly common on 
the Jardine River, frequenting the taU messmate and bloodwood forest. It 
has much the same habits as the better-known D. gigas. The note is similar, 
but not so loud. The bird’s old hoUows were noted in the termites’ nests in 
trees at a height of from ten to thirty feet from the ground. From a number of 
post-mortem examinations its principal food seemed to consist of beetles 
and grasshoppers. The iris is greyish-brown, upper mandible black, lower dirty 
white with sides of base brown, legs pale olive. Mr. Wheatley found this 
species nesting in termites’ nests high up in the trees near the Batavia River ; 
each nest contained four eggs.” 
Recently, the species has been acclimatised in Tasmania and West Australia, 
and the following notes show the results. It is necessary to have such items 
continually in view. Miss J. A. Fletcher, in the Emu (Vol. VIII., p. 218, 1909), 
writing from Cleveland, Tasmania : “ Brown Kingfisher {Dacelu gigas). — Re 
this acclimatised bird, I am pleased to state they have nested in this locality for 
the past two seasons. The flock now numbers about nine, and their merry 
laughter is frequently heard during the early morning and evening.” 
Mr. Tom Carter has gi ven me the following account of this bird in West 
Australia, which is important : “ The Brown Kingfisher {Dacelo gigas) has 
been introduced into West Australia at various times by many people, and I 
understood Mr. Ernest Le Souef, Director of the Zoological Gardens at South 
Perth, that he had let many free from there. Their presence is by no means 
128 
