SACRED KINGFISHER. 
lizards, beetles, grasshoppers, etc. It prefers to drill its own nest, and 
seeks a dry dead tree where it has no difficulty in making a hole. It 
seems to me to migrate just according to food supply. In 1908 I observed 
parents taking food to a nest on October 14. Hall in “ Insectivorous 
Birds of Victoria ” stated : “ Within Victoria it proves migratory as the 
winter advances : though this does not apply to the warmer districts 
just north of it.” I do not quite agree with this last sentence, for in 1908 
I noticed it first on its southward journey on September 15. By observa- 
tions on different parts of the run I found that it came from the north- 
west. The breeding-season here seems to be any time between early and 
late December, though I think most of the birds breed twice. On February 
5th, 1909, they departed north again.” 
Mr. H. S. Dove has written me : “ This species is only found in South 
Tasmania in summer, from about October onwards.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers sent me some interesting notes, as follows: “At 
Parry’s Creek, North-west Australia, on Nov. 24, 1908 : a pair of these 
birds have been here for 10 days, and have been flying from tree to tree 
in the vicinity of my camp, and have been very noi.sy. To-day, at 10 a.m., 
they started to dig a nest hole in a white ants’ nest in the end of a broken 
branch of a white gum tree, just outside my window : they had a hard 
task, as the nest was very solid, and they could not get a foothold. One 
would fly up to the limb, and give one or two blows with its beak, and 
then fly back to a twig a few feet away, and then the other bird would 
try. They kept this up, without more than a few minutes’ intermission, 
until 3.30 p.m. They then had a hole in about one inch, but still had a 
bad foothold, and could not work well. Nov. 25 : Both birds worked very 
hard to-day : started at sunrise, and were working at 9 a.m., when I 
returned from my morning round, and continued until 4 p.m., when I left 
the camp again. They worked steadily, at short intervals, and kept up a 
continual scolding noise when working. Their foothold is still bad : they 
hang from the mouth of the hole, and, propping themselves with their tail, 
strike a few heavy blows, then fall back, and fly to their perch about 
thirty inches away. Nov. 26 : Birds were working hard at 6 a.m., but 
were gone at 10 a.m., and have not seen them since. Nov. 30 : Birds 
were back again this morning and worked intermittently, but can make 
no progress. Dec. 7 : Birds still work intermittently, but make no progress. 
Dec. 10 : Still working. Dec. 19 : Birds have apparently given up, as I 
have not seen them since Dec. 10. Dec 21 : I climbed the tree to-day, 
and find that the ant’s nest is only one inch thick : the limb had been 
topped, and the end was dead solid timber, with one little hole about one 
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