BROWN KINGFISHER (LAUGHING JACKASS)^ 
appreciated by many of the settlers, owing to the partiality of these birds 
for small chickens and ducks. Thus, in 1913, a farmer in the south-west 
of this State, knowing my ornithological tastes, sent me a fine ‘ Jackass ’ for 
identification, for, as he said in his accompanying letter : ‘ this brute of a 
bird has been in the habit of coming daily to my house, and eating one or 
two from a fine brood of chickens, and this morning I shot it, Avhen it had 
the last of them in its beak.’ When visiting the Warren River, in the extreme 
south-west corner of West Australia, in February, 1910, I was told by Mr. 
W. Brockman that a pair of Jackasses had been liberated there the previous 
year ; one of them had been shot a day or two afterwards in mistake for a 
‘ Squeaker ’ {Strepera plumbea) by a man who was engaged in shooting Parrots 
and Squeakers that were eating much fruit in his orchard. The surviving 
bird remained in the locality for some time and then disappeared. In December, 
1911, I was staying at a farm near Mount Barker (about forty miles north 
of Albany and one hundred miles east of the Warren River) ; there I noticed 
a solitary Jackass several times, and when I asked my host about it, he said 
that it had been there about a year. In all probability this was the bird 
from the Warren, as no others were known to be in that district.” 
Records of introduction of native birds from one State into another must 
be emphasised, as complications may later ensue. 
H. E. Hni, in the Emu (Vol. III., p. 228, 1904), writing from Guildford, 
Western Australia, noted : Some years ago a number of ‘ Laughing 
Jackasses’ were released in various parts of the south-west. In 1902 I saw 
a smgle pair only (near the Mundariug Weir), but since then they seem to 
have grown rather common. There were a good many all along the Swan 
during the latter half of 1903, and I found a nest on the Helena River in 
the middle of October.” 
The technical history of this species contains little of interest as, though 
several names were early bestowed on the species, the one here used was 
recognised as applicable as long ago as 1846 and has since been consistently 
used. No subsjjecies were determined for many years, as, though Sharpe 
suggested their separation in 1870, when he wrote the Catalogue of the Birds in 
the British Museiom in 1892, he concluded: “The differences between northern 
and southern birds suggested in my ‘ Monograj)h’ do not hold good Avith a 
larger series of skins at my disposal. The brighter blue on the wing-coverts, 
as well as on the lower back and rump, appears to be a sign of age only, as 
it is more conspicuous in the older birds.” 
In 1900, dealing with birds received from North Queensland, Robinson 
named the northern subspecies on account of its smaller size and difierence in 
coloration, but almost immediate^ withdrew his form, concluding in almost 
VOL, vn. 
129 
