95 
In a letter just received from the Hev. J. Wills, who writes from Antananarivo, he sends me the 
following note:—“ The cry of A. pittoides is indicated by its native name BakbTca. The sa is scarcely 
sounded, and the final a is almost silent; the d is lengthened and becomes hboh; and the call is loud, 
almost like a man’s shout. Natives who have dug out the nests inform me that the nest is at the end 
of a hole extending in the ground to about the length of a man’s arm. The hole is made in a bank 
of soft earth, very round and smooth, and too small to admit a man’s hand. They are all about the 
same size, and the loose earth found below the entrance shows that the bird excavates its own nest- 
hole, and does not make use of one already bored. The nest-hole and nest are clean, and not like 
those of the Kingfisher. The hole is enlarged at the end and basin-shaped, and the eggs, which are 
pure white, about equal in size to those of a Quail, and two in number, are deposited on a little dry 
grass. One of my friends, however, tells me that he found two eggs which were spotted with brown, 
but he was uncertain as to whether the nest was that of A. pittoides or A. crossleyi. The nest of this 
species has only one hole for ingress and egress.” 
The specimens figured are an adult male in the foreground and a young female in the background, 
these and the specimens described being in my own collection. 
In the preparation of the above article I have examined, besides the series in the British 
Museum, the following specimens :— 
E Mus. II. E. Dresser. 
a, ? jav.; 1, ^ ad.; c, ad. Madagascar {Whitely). d, ad.; e, $ ad.;/, $. Imerina, Madagascar, 1884 
[Rev. J. Wills). 
E Mus. A. & E. Newton. 
a, ad. Madagascar, September 1862 [Capt. Anson), b, ad. Madagascar, 1879 [Watkins). 
E Mus. W. Rothschild. 
a, b, ad.; c, $ juv. Madagascar, d, ^ ad. Madagascar, 10th June, 1891. 
