Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/187

Rh

Notes on the White-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis).—In 'The Zoologist' for 1901 (p. 451), Mr. E.L. Gill notices the slow sailing flight of certain birds, not normally singing on the wing, when they occasionally do this. I have observed a similar peculiarity in the White-breasted Kingfisher here (Calcutta). This bird occasionally flies about slowly and aimlessly high in the air, uttering a peculiar wailing cry, very different from its usual harsh cackle; though this, too, is given either on the wing, or just before starting on an ordinary flight. I should like also to draw attention to two other peculiarities of this bird. One is, that it occasionally practises piracy. An individual which haunts the Museum pond, whereon there are some Dabchicks, has several times been seen by me to attempt to rob one of these birds of a fish which it had captured, and once, at all events, with success. On one occasion I saw the Kingfisher hovering over something in the water, which turned out to be a Dabchick washing itself; evidently he had for a moment mistaken the actions of his victim, and thought it had caught something. The other point is, that although this Kingfisher is as big as a Thrush, with plumage of brilliant blue, bay, and white, and with a scarlet beak, it is not at all conspicuous when seen across the Museum tank (about sixty yards wide), whether it sits on a bamboo, or on a dark-foliaged tree; indeed, if one's eyes are taken off it, the bird is very hard to find again. Yet in flight, at the same distance, it is a most striking object. This shows that a plumage which appears most glaringly conspicuous close at hand does not necessarily render its wearer easy to see some distance off, if the colours are suitable for blending with the normal environment of the species. If the bird were all bay or white instead of partly blue, it would catch the eye at once.— (Indian Museum, Calcutta).

A Little-known Action of the Kingfisher.—While recently fishing on the Bela, my son saw a Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) splashing about on the top of the water in rather a deep pool. Thinking the bird