THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
This species is very numerous on the great swamp, also in a large belt of 
pandanus which fringes the outer edge of the swamp of the north-eastern 
side : these pandanus are on the side of a ridge about fifty yards from the 
edge of the swamp and extend for about two miles along the swamp and are 
about a hundred yards through. On the great swamp this species fives 
in part on fish. I saw two flying into the water and thought they were 
bathing : while watching them I saw one swallow something. I therefore 
shot it, and on dissection found one small mullet about 1| inches long, and 
bones and scales of other fish in the stomach, as well as fragments of insects. 
These birds do not fish like the Alcyone^ but flew to the surface of the water 
in a slanting direction, and merely seem to dip the beak and perhaps their 
head into the water : in fact, the whole action resembled the catching of a 
small lizard or other prey on land where the bird often flies down, seizes its 
prey, and returns to the perch without alighting on the ground.” 
Captain S. A. White has given the following item : “ I have met with this 
bird in the great forest country of South Queensland and New South Wales. 
Their habits are like many other members of the family. Their call is loud and 
harsh. I have seen these birds perched upon a dry tree, calling every six to 
eight minutes over a period of hours : food consists of insects, lizards, etc.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has written me : “ This Kingfisher was common in 
the forest land north of Brisbane and also in the open clearings in the scrub 
land of the Blackall Ranges. The old birds were feeding their fledgod young 
at the end of September. The garrulous cries of the young made one of the 
most prominent sounds of the bird fife of the bush.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor also noted : “ This bird I have seen plentiful in the 
forest country of the upper parts of New South Wales and in Queensland, 
where it is known as the Forest Kingfisher : it breeds in the large wliite-ant 
mounds that are high up in some lofty forest tree, and almost inaccessible 
to the climber. They burrow out a hole, making a larger cavity inside, and 
there lay four round pearly white eggs with a highly-polished surface to the 
shell. I saw numbers of the birds in the Blackall Ranges, Queensland, 
while there in October and November, 1910. Their food seemed to consist 
of small fish from a stream close by, but chiefly insects and grubs, etc., caught 
in the damp leaves and undergrowth of the scrub and forest.” 
Macgilfivray wrote {Emu, Vol. XIII., p. 160, 1914) : “ Noted all the 
way down the Cloncurry River. At Cape York they were numerous in the 
open forest all the year round, nesting in termites’ nests on the trees at an 
average height of from 30 to 40 feet. The usual nesting-time is from October 
until the end of the year. A full clutch consists of five eggs, though a smaller 
number is often found. At Lockerbie, when he was examining a nest 
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