. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Birds; Natural history; Oiseaux; Sciences naturelles. , 1 1 j i y \ .I'i, â if â¢â B ;( il'^' . fir ' ' I T ^ 'I !; '' [*i||H . 'i i .? 172 TIIK ATSTRALIAN KIKGFISHER ma most mnunvv. Whoa or four pairs of fi ;>x er u S that iiothinn; can ho heard oxcopt their outcries. It a very shy bird an , easily Avifliin ran-f of sliot ^ ^ ' ^^^^ Op the genus Halcyon, the Austealian KiNfiFiSHEii affords a good example. -â=-^=.^--_, ^,r J''^"^ ^^'^'^^ i^ ^ resident in New South Wales irom August
. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Birds; Natural history; Oiseaux; Sciences naturelles. , 1 1 j i y \ .I'i, â if â¢â B ;( il'^' . fir ' ' I T ^ 'I !; '' [*i||H . 'i i .? 172 TIIK ATSTRALIAN KIKGFISHER ma most mnunvv. Whoa or four pairs of fi ;>x er u S that iiothinn; can ho heard oxcopt their outcries. It a very shy bird an , easily Avifliin ran-f of sliot ^ ^ ' ^^^^ Op the genus Halcyon, the Austealian KiNfiFiSHEii affords a good example. -â=-^=.^--_, ^,r J''^"^ ^^'^'^^ i^ ^ resident in New South Wales irom August to December or January and then passes to a warmer climate. Like the preceding birds, it cares little for the invsoucc of water, making its subsistence chielly on large insects, such as locusts, cater- lullars, grasshoppers, and cicadie, which it seizes m its bill, and beats violently against the ground before eating them. It iiT also very lond of small crabs and other crustaceaiia Mv. Gould mentions that the stomachs of Australian Kingfishers that had been shot were found crammed witli these creatures 1 o obtain them, it is in the habit of frequentiii;' the sea-shore, and i)ouiicing upon the crabs"' shrimps, i), and various otlier creatures as they are thrown on the strand by the re- tiring tide, or forced to take refuge in shallow roek-pools, whence they can easily be extracted by the long bill .,f this voracious bird. ^ (hi the banks of the Hunter River (Lis to a very curious method of I'1 '1 aming fo,,d. There is a kind of ant which liuilds a mud nest upon the dead branches ami stems of the gum-trees, and by the unpractised eye would be taken for fungi or natural .x- crescences. The Kingfisher, however, know., better, and speedily demolishes the walls with his powerful beak, for the purpose of fcedin.' upon the ants and their hirvie, '^ Like the invcoding bird, the Australian Kingfisher is a most noisy creature, and re- nuakably fond of
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectnaturalhistory
