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Show 1875.] MR. E. L. LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. 427 CUCULUS INFUSCATUS, Hartl.; F. & H. op. cit. p. 31. A single specimen of this sombre-coloured Cuckoo was shot on " Brewer's Rock," a large mass of pudding-stone at the back of m y residence, in the month of February. Mr. Kleinsmidt captured a specimen in his garden in January. Both these Cuckoos are migratory, arriving in these islands at the end of the year. They are considered very rare ; but I suspect this is owing to their retiring habits, and their frequenting the depth of the forest. EUDYNAMIS TAITIENSIS (Sparrm.). Non vidi. CHALCITES, sp. inc. Mr. Henry Thurston, a gentleman who has devoted some attention to birds both in Australia and Fiji, assures m e that he has shot the little " Bronze Cuckoo " of Australia on Taviuni. He knows the species well, having skinned many of them. HALCYON SACRA (Gmel.) ; F. & H. op. cit. p. 32. This Kingfisher is one of the commonest birds in Fiji, being found along the whole seaboard, and inland up the rivers. It feeds on crabs, fish, lizards, locusts; in fact, few living things that can go down its throat are rejected. It perches equally on the stones left bare by the retreating tide, and on the topmost branches of the tallest forest-trees. I have often, when in the latter situation, mistaken its cries for those of Astur cruentus on the wing. The natives call it " Se-se," and declare that it builds in ants' nests on the trees, laying four to six eggs (pure white, axis 1" 1'", diam. 1"), chiefly in November and December. The white ants of this country construct nests in hollow trees; and it is in these scooped out that these birds are said to breed. Kleinsmidt says in Ovalau it is called " N'le-se." HALCYON CASSINI, F. & H. op. cit. p. 40. I obtained a single specimen of this Kinghunter on the Waimanu branch of the Rewa. It was on a tree in the forest at the back of Mr. Thomas's plantation. CAPRIMULGUS, sp. inc. I have been assured by the natives on Koro that a bird exists on their island " which has the power in the evening of turning itself into a stone, and lying in the footpath till you almost tread upon it, when it flies up into your face. It has large eyes and a huge mouth, for the purpose of catching the rats on which it feeds." Divest this of the miraculous and the misconception as to the use of the " huge mouth," and you clearly have a Goatsucker indicated. I asked if they knew the Owl. " Yes ; they knew that bird, but it was not that." |