DACELO GIGANTEA, Leach. 
Great Brown Kingfisher. 
Alcedo gigantea, Lath. Ind. Orn, vol. i, p. 245. 
fusca, Gmel. edit. of Linn, Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 454. 
Grand Martin-pécheur de la Nouvelle Guinée, Son, Voy. p. 171, pl, 106.—Buff. Hist. des Ois. tom. vil, p. 181; 
PL Enl. 663? 
Martin-chasseur, ''em. Man, d'Orn. 2nd edit, p. Ixxxviii. 
Giant Kingfisher, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 53. 
Great Brown Kingfisher, Lath. Gen. Syst. vol. ii, p. 609; ibid. Supp. vol. ii, p. 143.—White’s Journ. pl. at 
p- 137.—Phill. Voy. pl. at p. 287,—Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iv. p. 9. 
Dacelo gigantea, Leach, Zool. Misc. vol. ii. p. 126, pl. evi—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn, 'Trans. vol. xv. p. 204.— 
Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 335. | 
Choucaleyon australe, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 248, 
Paraleyon gigas, Gloger. 
Alcedo gigas, Bodd. ; 
Dacelo gigas, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, 2nd edit. p. 14. 
Gogo-bera, Aborigines of New South Wales. 
Laughing Jackass of the Colonists. 
Tue Dacelo gigantea is a bird with which every resident and traveller in New South Wales is more or less 
familiar ; for, independently of its large size, which in itself would tend to attract attention, its voice is so 
extraordinary as to be unlike that of any other living creature. In its disposition it is by no means shy ; 
and when any new objects are presented to its notice, such as a party traversing the bush or pitching their 
tent in the vicinity of its retreat, it becomes very prying and inquisitive, often perching on the dead branch 
of some neighbouring tree and watching with the greatest curiosity the kindling of the fire and the 
preparation of the meal; its presence, however, owing to the quietade with which it passes through the 
forest and the almost noiseless manner in which it settles, is seldom detected until it emits its extraordinary 
rurgling, laughing note, which generally calls forth some exclamation, according to the temper of the hearer, 
such as ‘* There is our old friend the Laughing Jackass,” or an epithet of a less friendly character, Not 
unfrequently does its life pay the penalty of its temerity; for if, as is often the case, the traveller's larder 
be ill-provided and his appetite keen, but a few minutes elapse before it is roasting over the fire it 
was lately surveying with so much curiosity, So remarkable are the sounds emitted by the bird, that they 
haye been noted by nearly every writer on New South Wales and its productions. Mr, Caley states that 
its “loud noise, somewhat like laughing, may be heard at a considerable distance ; from which circumstance 
and its uncouth appearance, it probably received the extraordinary appellation given to it by the settlers on 
their arrival in the colony.” Captain Sturt says, * its cry, which resembles a chorus of wild spirits, is apt 
to startle the traveller who may be in jeopardy, as if laughing and mocking at bis misfortune ;” and Mr. 
Bennett, in his ‘ Wanderings,’ says, ‘ Its peculiar gurgling laugh, commencing in a low and gradually rising 
to a high and loud tone, is often heard in all parts of the colony—the deafening noise being poured forth 
while the bird remains perched upon a neighbouring tree. It rises with the dawn, when the woods re-echo 
with its gurgling laugh ; at sunset it is again heard; and as that glorious orb sinks im the west, a last ‘ good 
night’ is given in its peculiar tones to all with hearing.” 
The Great Brown Kingfisher does not inhabit Van Diemen’s Land, nor has it yet been met with in 
Western Australia ; it may be said to be almost solely confined to that portion of Australia which les between 
Spencer’s Gulf and Moreton Bay, the south-eastern corner, as it were, of the continent. The plate in the 
PI. Enl., quoted above, has been considered by all previous writers to have reference to this bird ; and while 
I coincide in this opinion, I think some mistake must have arisen as to the locality, and that it never visits 
New Guinea nor even the northern coast of Australia, where its place is supplied by the Dacelo cervina and 
D. Leachii. Unlike most other species, it frequents every variety of situation—the luxuriant brushes 
stretching along the coast, the more thinly timbered forest, the belts of trees studding the parched plains, 
