18



Walter Goodfellow—A Collector on Melville Island



black. They keep in parties of five to seven, and it seemed to require

that number to complete the concert, as each one takes up a different

note and key. I cannot imagine one making much of a show alone.

It is not a decided laugh like that of the other species, and requires to-

be heard to grasp what it really is. They started before dawn, but were

happily silent during the day, and when evening came they went at

it full force from every direction, and kept it up till long after dark.

A party of them roosted in a tree close to my camp, and I used to

pray that each outburst would be the last, but after a few more minutes

one tentatively gave forth a note to try to incite the others till they

all joined in the deafening concert again and again. This was then

taken up by other parties all around, and by others still farther and.

farther off. As I was forced to retire to the shelter of my net by 6.30, it

became maddening to listen to all this until perhaps 9 o’clock. A man

I knew in Darwin had four of these birds and I intended to bring

them home with me, but after I returned from the island I had no

desire to do so. These birds also retire very late. I often heard them

flying to roost after dark.


Macleay’s Kingfisher ( Halcyon macleayi) was fairly common around

the camp, and exceedingly fearless. Several times when I was catching-

grasshoppers and small lizards for my ducks, a flash of blue swooped,

from somewhere and snatched the prey from almost under my feet.

It is a particularly rich blue, and has a white collar and breast. Occasion¬

ally I saw a still more beautiful Kingfisher, a perfect jewel of a bird,,

and although I call it Alcyone azurea, it does not seem quite to fit

that species, as my bird had no white on the forehead and throat.

This little gem had the whole of the upper parts a deep sapphire blue

and rich chestnut breast. Several times a pair flew through the camp

beneath the bark roof, and once alighted for a second on a chair beside

where I was standing. Although this belongs to a fish-eating genus, I

suspect they eat other things as well, for I saw them in the roots of

low bushes near the ground.


I saw no Finches on Melville, although they must have been there,,

and it was the time when the grass seeds were ripe, too. The Long¬

tailed Finch ( Poephila acuticauda) was very common around Darwin,

on the mainland when I arrived there ; also Zebras, Bichenos, and not



