Part 4

This bird has so many attractions that it will doubtless be always regarded as a general favourite with the Australians; the extreme beauty of its plumage, the elegance of its form and the graceful manner of its flight all combining to render it especially worthy of their notice; besides which, many pleasing associations are connected with it, for, like the Swallow and the Cuckoo of Europe, its arrival is a certain harbinger of the return of spring, which in the southern hemisphere is, as is well known, at the opposite period of the year to that of the northern; hence the Australian Bee-eater, which is strictly migratory, arrives in New South Wales and all parts of the same latitude in August, and departs northwards in March, the intervening period being employed in the duties of incubation and of rearing its progeny. During the summer months it is universally spread over the whole southern portion of the continent from east to west; and it will be interesting to ornithologists generally, as it was to myself, to know that at Port Essington on the northern coast it is also strictly migratory, being abundantly dispersed over that part of the country when it is absent from the southern. “On my arrival at Port Essington in July,” says Mr. Gilbert, “this bird was extremely abundant in every variety of situation. It is a migratory bird in this part of Australia; a few pairs perhaps remaining to breed, as is evident from the natives being well acquainted with their mode of incubating, and also from my having in one instance seen a pair of old birds with their young, which could not long have left the nest as they were still being fed by their parents. With the exception of these I did not observe this species in any part of the Peninsula or the adjacent islands, from the latter part of August to the time of my leaving in the following March.”

I have never seen this bird either in collections from New Guinea or from any other of the Indian islands; hence we may naturally conclude that the extreme northern parts of Australia form the boundary of its range in that direction, as New South Wales and the same degree of latitude do on the southern. In South Australia and at Swan River it is equally numerous as in New South Wales, generally giving preference to the inland districts rather than to those near the coast; hence it is rarely to be met with in the neighbourhood of Perth, while in the York district it is very common. In New South Wales I found it especially abundant on the Upper Hunter, and all other parts towards the interior, as far as I had an opportunity of exploring. Its favourite resorts during the day are the open, arid and thinly-timbered forests; and in the evening the banks and sides of rivers, where numbers may frequently be seen in company. It almost invariably selects a dead or leafless branch whereon to perch, and from which it darts forth to capture the passing insect, much after the manner of many other of the Fissirostral birds, particularly the Kingfishers, to which it also assimilates in the upright position it assumes while perched. Its flight somewhat resembles that of the _Artami_, and although it is capable of being sustained for some time, the bird more frequently performs short excursions, and returns to the branch it had left.

I have had frequent opportunities of observing both the eggs and young, which are deposited and reared in holes, made in the sandy banks of rivers or any similar situation in the forest favourable for the purpose. The entrance is about the size of a mouse-hole, and is continued for a yard in depth, at the end of which is an excavation of sufficient size for the reception of the parent, and the deposition on the bare sand of four or five beautiful white eggs, which are ten lines long by eight or nine lines broad.

The stomach is tolerably muscular, and the food consists of various insects, principally coleoptera and neuroptera.

The sexes are alike in plumage, and may be thus described:—

Forehead, line over the eye, back and wing-coverts brownish-green; crown of the head and nape orange-brown; wings orange-brown, passing into green on the extremities of the primaries, and broadly tipped with black; two or three of the scapularies, lower part of the back, rump and upper tail-coverts cœrulean blue; tail black, most of the feathers, particularly the two centre ones, slightly margined with blue; lores, line beneath and behind the eye and ear-coverts velvety black; beneath which is a stripe of cœrulean blue; throat rich yellow, passing into orange on the sides of the neck; beneath this a broad band of deep black; under surface like the back, becoming green on the lower part of the abdomen; under tail-coverts light blue; irides light brownish red; bill black; legs and feet mealy greenish grey.

The young are destitute of the black on the throat, and of the blue line beneath the eye.

The figures are of the natural size.

EURYSTOMUS AUSTRALIS, _Swains_. Australian Roller.

_Eurystomus orientalis_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 202.

_Eurystomus Australis_, Swains. Anim. in Menag., p. 326.—Ib. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 333.

_Coracias pacifica_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxvii?

_Pacific Roller_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 371?

_Natay-kin_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

_Dollar Bird_ of the Colonists.

By the older writers this species was considered to be identical with the _Eurystomus orientalis_, and the merit of first pointing out its distinguishing characters is due to Mr. Swainson, who observes that it is “smaller than _E. orientalis_; has the bill less compressed, and therefore much broader; the colours lighter, but the wings much bluer; the spurious wings entirely vivid blue, as well as the outer webs of the quills; while in _orientalis_ these parts are almost black.”

It is a very local species, as I have never seen it from or met with it in any other part of Australia excepting in New South Wales, and even there it is migratory, arriving early in the spring; having brought forth its progeny, it retires northwards on the approach of winter. From what I saw of it,—and I had opportunities of observing it almost daily for some length of time,—it seemed to be most active about sun-rise and sunset, and during cloudy days; in sultry weather it was generally perched upon some dead branch in a state of quietude. It is a very bold bird at all times, but particularly so during the breeding-season, when it comes down with the utmost fury upon any intruder that may venture to approach the hole in the tree in which its eggs are deposited.

When engaged in the capture of insects it usually perches upon the dead upright branch of a tree growing beside and overhanging water, where it sits very erect, soaring all around until a passing insect attracts its notice, when it suddenly darts off, secures its victim, and returns to the same branch; at other times it may constantly be seen on the wing, mostly in pairs, flying just above the tops of the trees, diving and rising again with rapid turns in the most beautiful manner. During flight, which, when performed at a considerable elevation, is heavy and laboured, the white spot in the centre of each wing, then widely expanded, shows very distinctly, and hence the name of Dollar Bird bestowed upon it by the colonists.

It is a very noisy bird, particularly in dull weather, when it often emits its peculiar chattering note during flight.

It is said to take the young Parrots from their holes and kill them, but this I never witnessed; the stomachs of the many I dissected contained nothing but the remains of coleoptera.

The breeding-season lasts from September to December; and the eggs, which are three and sometimes four in number, are deposited in the hole of a tree without any nest; they are of a beautiful pearly white, considerably pointed at the smaller end; their medium length is one inch and five lines, and breadth one inch and two lines.

The sexes are alike in plumage.

Head and neck dark brown, passing into the sea-green of the upper surface, and deepening into black on the lores; spurious wing, outer webs of the basal half of the quills, outer webs of the secondaries and the basal half of the outer webs of the tail-feathers vivid blue; six of the primaries with a greenish white basal band; extremities of the primaries black; tail green at the base, black at the tip; throat vivid blue, with a stripe of lighter blue down the centre of each feather; under surface of the shoulder and abdomen light green; under surface of the inner webs of the primaries, and of all but the two centre tail-feathers deep blue, the former interrupted by the greenish white band; irides dark brown; eyelash, bill and feet red; inside of the mouth yellow.

The figures are of the natural size.

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-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée_, Son. Voy., p. 171. pl. 106.—Buff. Hist. des Ois., tom. vii. p. 181.—Pl. Enl. 663.?

_Martin Chasseur_, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit. p. lxxxviii.

_Giant Kingfisher_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 53.

_Great Brown Kingfisher_, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p. 609.—Ibid. Supp., vol. ii. p. 143.—White’s Journ., pl. in p. 137.—Phill. Voy., pl. in p. 287.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 9.

_Dacelo gigantea_, Leach, Zool. Misc., vol. ii. p. 126. pl. cvi.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 204.—Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 335.

_Choucalcyon australe_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 248.

_Paralcyon 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.

The _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 quietude with which it passes through the forest, and the almost noiseless manner in which it settles, is seldom detected until it emits its extraordinary gurgling, laughing note, which generally calls forth some exclamation according with 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 have 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 first 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 his 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 in the west, a last ‘good night’ is given in its peculiar tones to all within 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 lying between Spencer’s Gulf and Moreton Bay, the south-eastern corner, as it were, of the continent. The plate in the Pl. 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 that 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 and the brushes of the higher ranges being alike favoured with its presence; over all these localities it is rather thinly dispersed being nowhere very numerous.

I believe that this bird seldom, if ever, drinks; consequently the most arid plains are as suitable to its habits as the shrouded river sides and the flat brushes near the coast.

Its food, which is of a mixed character, consists exclusively of animal substances; reptiles, insects and crabs, however, appear to be its favourite diet, upon which it is destined by nature to subsist: it devours lizards with avidity, and it is not an unfrequent sight to see it bearing off a snake in its bill to be eaten at leisure; it also preys on small mammalia. I recollect shooting a Great Brown Kingfisher in South Australia in order to secure a fine rat I saw hanging from its bill, and which proved to be a rare species inhabiting the plains of that part of the country. It breeds during the months of August and September, and generally selects a hole in a large gum-tree for the purpose; making no nest, but depositing its beautiful pearl-white eggs, which are one inch and nine lines long by one inch and five lines broad, on the decomposed wood at the bottom of the hole. When there are young ones in it, it defends its breeding-place with great courage and daring, darting down upon any intruder who may attempt to ascend the tree, and inflicting severe and dangerous blows with its pointed bill.

The sexes present so little difference in the colouring of their plumage, that they are scarcely distinguishable from each other; neither do the young at a month old exhibit any great variation from the adult, the only difference being that the markings are somewhat darker and the brown more generally diffused.

It bears confinement remarkably well, and is one of the most amusing birds for the aviary with which I am acquainted: examples have been brought alive to England; one lived for several years in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, and at the moment I am writing (April 1843) a fine individual brought from New South Wales by Mr. Yaldwyn, is now living at his seat at Blackdown in Sussex, where it attracts the attention of every one by its singular actions and extraordinary notes, which are poured forth as freely as in its native wilds.

Forehead brown, each feather with a stripe of blackish brown down the centre; crown of the head, lores, ear-coverts, and a broad band passing round the occiput blackish brown; space between the crown of the head and the band encircling the occiput, and the back of the neck buff, crossed by fine irregular lines of dark brown; back and wings brownish black; the wing-coverts and rump tipped with verditer green; primaries white at the base, black for the remainder of their length, and stained with green on their outer margins immediately behind the white; upper tail-coverts blackish brown, crossed by several broad irregular bands of rusty red; tail brownish black, tipped with white, the white increasing in extent as the feathers recede from the centre; the central feathers crossed near the tip with rusty red; the lateral feathers with brownish black, the bands being very narrow near the tip, and gradually increasing in breadth as they approach the base, where the white interspaces also become tinged with rusty red; under surface pale buffy white, crossed by fine irregular freckled markings of dark brown; upper mandible brownish black; under mandible pale buff; feet olive; irides dark brown; eyelash olive-brown.

The figures represent a male and two young of the natural size.

DACELO LEACHII, _Vig. and Horsf._ Leach’s Kingsfisher.

_Dacelo Leachii_, Lath. MSS. Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 205.

Specimens of this fine Kingsfisher are contained in the British Museum, the Linnean Society, and my own collections, all of which were procured on the north-east coast of Australia, where it evidently replaces the _Dacelo gigantea_ of New South Wales and South Australia.

The specimen in the Linnean Society’s museum was presented by Dr. Brown, who procured it in Keppel Bay on the east coast; and it was subsequently seen at Shoalwater Bay and Broad Sound on the same coast; my own specimens were obtained at Cape York, the north-eastern extremity of Australia.

The habits, actions, food, and indeed the whole of the economy, are so precisely like those of the _Dacelo gigantea_ that a separate description of them is entirely unnecessary.

The male has the head and back of the neck striated with brown and white; sides of the neck and under surface white, crossed with very narrow irregular markings of brown, these markings becoming much broader and conspicuous on the under surface of the shoulder; back brownish black; wing-coverts and rump shining azure-blue; wings deep blue; primaries white at the base, black on their inner webs and blue on the outer; tail rich deep blue, all but the two centre feathers irregularly barred near the extremity and largely tipped with white; upper mandible brownish black, under mandible pale buff; irides dark brown; feet olive.

The female differs but little from the male in the colouring of the plumage, except that the tail-feathers, instead of being of a rich blue barred and tipped with white, are of a light chestnut-brown conspicuously barred with bluish black.

The Plate represents the two sexes about the natural size.

DACELO CERVINA, _Gould_. Fawn-breasted Kingfisher.

_Dacelo cervina_, Gould, Birds of Australia, Part II. cancelled.

_Lä-rool_, Aborigines of Port Essington.

The northern and north-western portions of Australia constitute the true habitat of this species; it was observed in tolerable abundance by Captain Grey during his expedition to the latter part of the country, and specimens of it have also formed a part of every collection of any extent made at Port Essington. In disposition it appears to be more shy and wary than the _Dacelo gigantea_ of New South Wales, of which it is a representative. Mr. Gilbert, whose observations were made on the Cobourg Peninsula, states that it “inhabits well-wooded forests, generally in pairs, is extremely shy and very difficult to procure; it is very fond of perching on the topmost dead branch of a tree, where it has an uninterrupted view of every thing passing around, and pours out its loud discordant tones. Sometimes three or four pairs may be heard at one time, when the noise is so great that no other sound can be heard.

“The natives tell me that it breeds in the honey-season, which is during the months of May, June and July.”

The food of this Kingfisher is doubtless similar to that of the _Dacelo gigantea_. The stomachs of those examined by Mr. Gilbert were tolerably muscular, and contained the remains of coleopterous and other kinds of insects.

When fully adult the male differs from his mate in having the tail-feathers of a deep and splendid blue instead of brown; a feature which will be readily perceived on reference to the accompanying Plate.

The male has the feathers of the head buffy white, with a central stripe of dark brown, the latter colour becoming most conspicuous on the occiput; throat white; cheeks, ear-coverts, back of the neck, chest and all the under surface sienna-yellow, crossed on the flanks with very minute irregular zigzag bands of brown; primaries black at the tip, white at the base; the base of their external webs, the secondaries and spurious wing rich china blue; greater and lesser wing-coverts, lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts shining light blue; tail and the longest of the upper tail-coverts rich deep blue, the former broadly tipped with white; irides greenish white; upper mandible blackish brown, the cutting edges greenish white; lower mandible greenish white, the base dark brown on the sides, and blue on the under surface; tarsi and feet emerald green; claws black.

The female has the feathers of the head, cheeks, and ear-coverts buffy white, with a central stripe of dark brown; throat white; back of the neck, chest and all the under surface sienna-yellow; the chest, flanks and abdomen crossed by fine zigzag lines of brown; upper part of the back and scapularies umber-brown; primaries blackish brown at the tip and white at the base; the basal portion of their external webs, the secondaries spurious and the wing rich china blue; greater and lesser wing-coverts and upper tail-coverts light shining blue; tail and the longest of the upper coverts rich chestnut-brown, which passes into buff at the tip, the whole transversely marked with eight or nine bands of rich blue black.

The figures are those of the two sexes of the natural size.

HALCYON SANCTUS, _Vig. and Horsf._ Sacred Halcyon.

_Sacred Kingsfisher_, Phill. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 156.—White’s Voy., pl. in p. 193.

_Halcyon Sanctus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 206.—Gould, Syn. of Birds of Aust., Part III.

_Halcyon sacra_, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. ii. pls. 96 and 97.

_Dacelo chlorocephala_, var. β. Less. Traité Orn., p. 246.

_Kingsfisher_ of the Colonists.

_Kün-yeë-nüh_ of the Aborigines, Western Australia.

On reference to the synonyms given above, it will be seen that a difference of opinion is entertained from the authors of the “Illustrations in Ornithology” respecting this species being identical with the _Halcyon collaris_ of Mr. Swainson, a bird which I have not yet seen from Australia, although it may possibly be found in the northern part of that continent, since it is common in Java; and I find that Mr. Swainson, in his recently published “Classification of Birds,” has arranged them as distinct.